The 13th Mile

Last week, I mentioned I was cool because I ran in the rain. Well, it turns out I'm not cool, I'm a geek. I am a running geek apparently. This week, I was supposed to run 5 miles on Saturday morning but for reasons I will explain  below I ran 3.5. I wasn't exactly happy about it and it nagged me all day so that night, I went out and ran the mile and a half that I didn't do. 

All told I ran 13 miles this week. The most I have done so far. That's a half-marathon. Now if I could only do that in one run...

I finally went to run with the guys from Coqui Runners. They invited me once again to go on Saturday morning. So I went and... got stood up. But it wasn't a total loss. I did run and the park were I ran was pretty awesome. It is a linear park in the town of Bayamón. It's got two lanes for bicycles and one for runners/walkers. It's got plenty of trees so you are running in the shade most of the way and there are several "stations" with restrooms and water. The route is challenging enough for me and if you run the entire thing, it's like almost 10 miles. The only drawback is that is not exactly close by. I wouldn't mind driving there once in a while but if I went there regularly it would add up. Gas ain't cheap these days you know.

Tuesday, October 30 - 4 miles
After doing some soul searching, I realized that I was focusing too much on improving my time as opposed to working on increasing my mileage which, of course, is supposed to be the point of all this as my main goal is to run a marathon at some point. So on this run, I tried to take it real easy and focus on slowly getting more adept at longer distances. However, as easy as I thought I was taking it, I still ran well within my previous PR in this distance. I am definitely getting used to running this distance. It seems a mileage increase is close by. 1:02:53

Thursday, November 1 - 4 miles
Bad days will come and so will bad runs. This was just one of those days where I just wasn't feeling it. The minute I started, my legs were complaining but I finished. You know, those "killer" hills in this course? They are becoming a lot more manageable.

Saturday, November 3 - 3.5 miles
This was the park run. I was plenty upset that I got stood up by my running "buddies" but hey, it's a beautiful park, a beautiful day... I walked up to one of the security guards there and asked him about the course. I told him I wanted to run 5 miles so he says "You need to go all the way to "Cambija" station and come back. That's 5 miles." So off I went. It was a nice change of scenery and it was great to see others running and walking along the route.  There are some short but steep hills that present a nice challenge. Once I reached the station, I made my way back. Almost at the end, it started to rain (Cool Runner:The Sequel) but when I checked my phone it said I had only run 3.5 miles. So much for the guard's info. Anyway, I spent the rest of the day thinking I fell short. I knew if I had run the full 5 miles, I would have done a personal best in terms of weekly mileage. So...

Saturday, November 3(evening) - 1.5 miles
After getting everyone fed, bathed and dressed I went out again and ran the missing mile and a half. This is important. A year ago I would have just let it go but it was important enough to me to go finish. By the way, running twice in a day... not the greatest sensation in the world for my body but what an awesome feeling for the soul! I was a bit sore I admit but after a few minutes it went (mostly) away. I also got to run my first running route from when I first started. I remember when this distance was a real challenge and that last half mile seemed like such a long distance to go. Sure, to some it might seem like going from 1.5 miles to 5 miles is not a big deal but for someone who less that a year ago was running zero miles, its a big moment.