20mi. I wasn’t thinking of running 20 miles today, 16 was going to be enough to do solo. I missed yesterday’s run because I was announcing at the Miami Children’s Health Foundation 5k. So today I couldn’t skip, the NY Marathon is only 6 weeks away.
I started alone at Dunkin Donuts at 5:30am. I ran down to PGA Blvd and back, spotting Aldo at the duck pond on my return trip. He said he was out to run 16 today, that was good news for me. I was already at 5+, so I would stay with him.
There weren’t many runners out this morning. There was a cycling event, Tour de Zeppole at Marcinski Rd. That had a police escort up A1-A when we ran south. I went with Aldo up to the Inlet park and south again. We increased our pace with each mile once we passed Loggerhead Park. I found it difficult to run 7:50, 7:40, 7:30.
I used new shoes, Skechers Go Run Ride 5 with my usual arch supports and stretchy tri laces, those worked very well all winter for me. I think they may be laced up too snug, I will wear them around and make loosening adjustments so they feel better during the week.
Coming out of the Inlet turnaround, Aldo said we would speed up. Our first mile was 7:20 and I was working hard to do that. We didn’t begin at that pace so we must have pushed 7 flat once past Circle K to get that as an average. I was not going to hold that pace back to the start point, I needed distance and time on my toes vs. speed today. Aldo gradually sped away from me on the flat A1-A section by Xanadu. I stopped at the turquoise rooves shower to wet my head, get more water and basically surrender to keeping up with Aldo’s pace. I ran slower down to Marcinski, then slower to Donald Ross Rd.
I decided that with 16 miles today I’d be satisfied, but when would I press into doing a long run of 20? I might want to do that today. I wasn’t thrilled with running further, my feet were sore, feeling squished in the shoes, and my energy level was low. Each mile was slow going down south again to the FPL traffic light at Seminole Club. It was also getting sunny and warmer. I came back up around the duck pond and finished with a shower at the Donald Ross beach entry. I spoke with Troy and Anita who stopped by on bikes, their IM training is almost done!
My long run adventure ended with a meetup and shared conversation with Franci at DD. Cross Country meets, her parents in their 80s, and her quest to run 2016 miles this year made for good chatter!
-dm
drun4fun 