Week 9

This was easily my best run ever.

It was a gorgeous day to be out. The weather was close to perfect. The long run for this week was out at Tiger mountain. I got a lot of extra rest this week. It was a "rest" week for the team. Runs were a shorter distance to help us recover from the build up in mileage the previous weeks.

This was a timed run. We were supposed to run for 2:30 hours and turnaround after 1:05 or 1:10. Imagine my surprise when I hit the turnaround point (15 mile creek) early. Even though it's called 15 mile creek, it's more like 4.5 miles.

The trail has a 2 mile decline down into 15 mile creek before a tough return route back up the 2 mile incline  (what goes down must come up after all!) Going down the declines, I took it really slow. I was focusing hard on running smartly. I was aggressive with the walk breaks. After the turnaround, I found myself hitting that incline really well. I had to stop and hike up those hills for a bit (Coach J said that would happen). I felt good on those hills though. The weekly Tuesday hill sessions have proved beneficial. I'm more confident in my ability to tackle hills now.

The body felt fresh throughout the run. When I reached the end point, I was a little disappointed because the run was done. Just an incredible feeling to have.