Monday, April 9, 2012

Umstead Long Run - April 7 - and Its Aftermath

After running the 2011 Umstead Marathon (I use the word 'run' liberally, as it took me nearly 5 hours), a hot early spring sapped my desire to run, and I ran a grand total of 16 miles between April and September, and I didn't get even half-way serious about running until January. 

Why am I telling you this?  Well first, I'm blogging, so I'm a bit of a narcissist.  But also, to illustrate that I've had to rebuild mileage slowly.  To date, my long runs have been no more than 8.3 miles, which meant Saturday was a perfect time to go to Umstead for a three hour run.  My goal was simply to keep moving.

I loved the feeling of just running for three hours, taking whatever path I felt like.  A nice change of pace from a mileage-driven goal.  In short, I walked most uphills in the last two hours, but did manage to run 16.1 miles in 3:02.  A 11:20 pace, which isn't much to brag about, but I didn't feel dead afterwards.

I even felt pretty good Sunday, but with a slightly stiff back.

Today?  I wake up with sharp pain in the right knee and a tight right calf.  Go to work, and it gets worse after sitting for most of the day.  Stop off at Umstead on the way home, hoping it will loosen up.  It doesn't.  I came home.  Will try again tomorrow.

No comments:

Post a Comment