Saturday's 12.2 miles - my longest run to date!

So, although I already posted about Sunday's run - I thought I would come back to saturday.  I will admit - it wasn't nearly as exciting however, it was noteworthy!  On Saturday, I ran the farthest I have run to date - going .7 miles beyond my previous record!  Having topped my previous "record" - I am feeling quite pleased with my training plan thus far!  This weekend should hit the "half-marathon" distance - probably my biggest single milestone to date!

But about the run - it was a beautiful day for it - and I felt good out there.  The temperatures have cooled a little which means my trusty water bottle lasts much longer!  I headed out through glorious down town Binghamton, and at the 2.2 mile marker - I went by a demolished building.  Luckily for you my readers, I KNEW you were going to ask - "Can I see the demolished building?"  And I took a picture for you!

[caption id="attachment_725" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="A freshly demolished building in downtown Binghamton!"][/caption]

The bad news for me, the runner - is that my phone reset and lost my time count/mileage.  I seriously need to consider getting a Garmin to prevent these occurrences.  But after it finally came back up - I continued on.  We have a great park in the area - Otsiningo Park - That has a nice 7 mile loop, and plenty of water fountains!  It's also very nice to look at as you go - and who doesn't like nice scenery?

Funny occurrence at mile marker 7 of my run - I had hit the turn around point and just headed back, and a lady started waving her arms at me.  I took my head phones off - and she started interrogating me about my shoes!  She had apparently been looking for someone who was running in them so she could as her questions - and I was the first one she saw.  She wanted to know what pains I had experienced and if I had any "bio-mechanical" issues. (I like that phrasing.)  I did explain my pulled calves, and my Achilles tendon issues and finally got to get back on my way! (I sometimes feel like I am an ambassador for Vibram when it comes to these things!) 

The rest of the run went quite well - although I was definitely feeling it by the end.  One of the nicest points about it - was my recovery time.  When I had just started running again - a 5 mile run had me completely worn out for hours.  After this run - An hour later I was up and moving around again.  Considering how destroyed I was in the past It was a VERY pleasant surprise!

First 2.2 miles - 18.40  Then my phone reset.
After reset:
Mile 1: 9:14
Mile 2: 10:05
Mile 3: 9:11
Mile 4: 8:57
Mile 5: 9:28
Mile 6: 8:57
Mile 7: 9:01
Mile 8: 9:17
Mile 9: 9:13
Mile 10: 9:23

I would like to get my splits down lower, to 8 minutes or so - but I have to keep reminding myself that I am looking for increasing distance for my marathon - not working on speed.  But it isn't going to keep me from being annoyed when I do run a 5k for speed, and I am not appreciably faster than last year..

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