Good morning!
I’ve had a great weekend so far and I hope you guys have, too. I have two weeks until the Vegas half marathon and yesterday was my last long training run — 11 miles!!
It was an AWESOME run — mostly because I was able to convince my friend Genna to run it with me! 🙂 I sent her an email on Thursday entitled “This Weekend” that said: “You don’t by chance want to run 10 to 11 miles with me, eh?? Eh? :)”
Luckily, she was game for a challenge and said she would at least run 7 or 8 with me and see how she felt. She ended up sticking with me the whole time. 🙂
It was a brisk 26 degrees out when we started our run — but the sun was shining and it quickly warmed up and became a perfect running day. I had my CamelBak in tow and was ready to rock!
We started our run in Carrboro and ran all through Chapel Hill, down a massive hill onto a trail, and back up another massive hill and through town again.
Once we were done with the massive hills, the run started to feel really great. I always struggle with long runs until about mile 6, and then I start to really enjoy them. Also at mile 6, I ate an espresso Hammer Gel — my standard long run fuel. Love it!
From Chapel Hill, we headed back into Carrboro and spent the last miles running through cute neighborhoods and on and off trails, enjoying the smell of fireplaces and all the beautiful crunchy leaves. By mile 8 I was feeling awesome and loving the fact that I was out exploring and chatting with a friend on such a nice morning!
The original plan was 10 miles but we were both feeling good and decided to go ahead and go for 11. Success! I love running with Genna — she’s such a fun running buddy. We chatted the entire 11 miles, as per usual. Thanks for keeping me company, girl. 🙂 You rock.
Here are our run splits:
- Mile 1: 9:14
- Mile 2: 9:06
- Mile 3: 8:52 (downhill is glorious)
- Mile 4: 9:16
- Mile 5: 9:54 (starting endless hill of death)
- Mile 6: 9:55 (finishing endless hill of death)
- Mile 7: 9:22
- Mile 8: 9:27
- Mile 9: 9:08
- Mile 10: 9:13
- Mile 11: 8:54 (finished strong!)
Total mileage: 11.00 miles. Total time: 1:42:20. Average pace: 9:18. Hooray! I’m also happy to say that my calf is feeling totally fine now, thanks to the use of compression sleeves (which I’ve been wearing occasionally around the house and also on runs, including this one). My right inner ankle still feels a bit tight/sore, but it felt good for the run, so that’s awesome. I think I’m ready for this half. Bring it on, Vegas!
After the run, I said goodbye to Genna and walked over to Jessee’s to meet the grad school girls for brunch!
Our friend Lauren (who left UNC over the summer to take an awesome job down in GA and will finish out her school down there) was in town visiting. We miss her! She’s next to me in the photo below.
In addition, it was our other friend Lauren’s (in the teal in the middle) birthday! 🙂 We also all went out to a fun sushi dinner and drinks last night to celebrate.
Anyway, I got my standard post long run favorite — an enormous biscuit topped with eggs, cheddar cheese, bacon, and tomato.
SO. GOOD. And bigger than it looks! I was stuffed. Fun brunch, too. A long run + brunch is basically the best morning ever. I hope the girls didn’t mind I was all sweaty and gross when I met them, hehe. 🙂
Time to enjoy the day with Matt (and get a little homework done… boo). Happy Sunday, friends!
