Sunday Run (Jog/Walk)

After lazing on the couch for a few hours after church/breakfast with the family, I decided it was a shame to waste a nice afternoon.  It was relatively sunny (for winter in MO that tends to be more gray than blue skies) and warmish (43° when I started).  Yoga pants, Prison Break tech tee, and new jacket with ear band and gloves (which were ditched by the end of the first mile) seemed to work pretty good.  Got a little warm in the jacket - long sleeve jersey might have been enough for all but the first mile.  When the wind picked up in the latter half, the jacket was nice.

I tried to start out strong.  I tried to find a "running" pace that I could sustain without any walking past the Moreau River bridge (first 1.3 miles).  I pretty much found it, but slowed to walk a little to stuff my gloves/headband into my pockets just after this (though pic from on the way back):

Moreau River looking upstream from Algoa Road bridge
(just upstream of confluence with Missouri River)

Made it to the National Guard (Ike Skelton training center just a shade under 2.5 miles from home) in 28:30 (11:26 min/mile).  I was pretty happy with this though I was starting to feel some strain from the camber of the road and being super careful of how I landed on my left ankle (still a tad sore from the fall a couple weeks ago - especially if I turn funny). 

The wind had picked up in the river bottom (or maybe just in general) and the first half of this out & back is mostly downhill or flat (making the return more uphill).  In fact, in the last 3/4 mile I get to go up this hill that I have sometimes referred to as "the Wavco hill" for which this blog was named.  It starts by the HQ for Wavco Construction with a long, though less steep, hill and then steepens to this:


How come pictures never convey steepness of hills worth a piss?

I would have liked to get back in the same amount of time, but I didn't have it in me.  It took me about 34 min to get back or 13:39 min/mile.  I did stop and take the two quick pics and did a fair bit more walking.  Overall, my pace is still so much better than a year ago so I'll stick with my summary of the year as "Progress".

 

Not going to hit most of my goals for the year, but I still thinking having the numbers was helpful and fun to see how close I could get.  I know there were a few times it got me out the door when I would have rather stayed on the couch (like today).

 

YTD
Swim: 15,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 848.2 mi / 1000
Run: 339.0 mi / 350

HBBC Points: 5 points

 

Days until Tour De Cure: 153 (FYI - if you want an end of the year charitable contribution deduction, feel free to visit my donation page.  No worries if you aren't able to donate right now - I'll be hitting you up again in 2013!)