Five Miles in the Evening!



Course by Brian Hyland

 Now that the kids' are back at school for the year - I can run in the evening before picking them up on those rare nights when I get out of work on time.  Fortunately for me, last night was just such a day.

I taped up my calf  (and found out during the run, that a rush tape job does not hold), and headed out the door.  I still like to start with the courses that my Cross Country Coach Brian Hyland from "Back in the day" had laid out for the Seton Catholic Central Cross Country Team. It lets me concentrate on HOW I am running - since I know where I am running.  So I headed out my door and over to Laurel Ave, and left up to the park.  This works out to around 1/2 of a mile - the perfect warm up distance.  I popped out with some stretching (this is new... Since I have calf pain it is an attempt to help become a bit more limber) and then headed out on the Seton Catholic Central Cross Country Team 5 mile practice course.  Down Seminary to Beethoven, left to Leroy, right to West end, Left to Riverside Drive, Right to the traffic circle - and come back.

In addition to a Diploma
I  got a bunch of practice courses from this school!

The weather was a bit warm and muggy - but not HOT.  It also didn't require a long shirt, so I am definitely not complaining in ANY way.  I did focus on how my calf felt, but did not keep it from doing anything like I did on saturday.  It felt good the whole way. I certainly did not push the speed AT ALL:"

Mile 1: 9:42
Mile 2: 9:24
Mile 3: 9:07
Mile 4: 9:25
Mile 5: Only did .82 of the mile, but it was definitely slower - probably 10 minute mile pace.

So this morning being the "day-after"  - how do I feel?  surprisingly good. I expected to be as sore as I was on Sunday morning, but I am not.  My legs are tired - no doubt about that, but I could move without Advil today!  Tonight I am going to do a 3 mile run - again, no worries about the speed (ok, for future reference - I have no worries about speed until November.)  Luckily I didn't name my blog "notajogger" - both because it is already taken (and a good read, I suggest checking it out!) - and because I don't know how accurate it would be right now...  BUT I am in NO WAY complaining about it, it is a joy to be out there again.  In just a few more days - I know that my wife will really appreciate it as well (I'm much easier to be around when I can run!)

There was an interesting occurence that happened on Saturday that I hadn't mentioned yet.  I had just finished my stretching at the park, and headed out on the "Seton Catholic Central" 3 mile course - I had rounded the corner and waved to another runner, and he asked me if I had run the Boilermaker.  No mind you - the Boilermaker had 11075 runners finish the course - but this gentleman recognized me. We had a nice enough chat (he is training for the Niagra Falls Marathon) and we both headed back out on our runs.

The head nod between runners is nice -but being recognized from a HUGE race?  Now that's just cool...