Week 9: A Solo Long Run & Some Funny Race Day Pics

Week 8 Mileage: 24

Miles Run: 20.02

I ran the following: 3 Tuesday, 3 Thursday, 4 Friday and 10.02 this morning.  I was supposed to run 3, 7, 4, 10.  

I'm still having a hard time getting in the semi-long run during the week and I know I need to do this.  I'm going to have to suck it up and either A) wake up even earlier to make sure I get it done in the morning or B) go after work despite what the weather conditions may be like outside or run the miles on the dreadmill at the gym.  I don't really like option B so hopefully that will be enough motivation to go for option A.

I ran alone this morning because:

1. I failed to get ready early enough.
2. I was scared since I've been eating a little too much fiber over the last two days and wanted to make sure I could get home if any issues happened on the run (spoiler alert: they didn't!)
3. I wanted to test myself to see if I could run at my target pace solo.  Granted, I will run the marathon with a pace group, but still.
4. I wanted to see how my legs would hold up on the sidewalks instead of the softer trail.

Also, the outside of my right knee and the inside of my right knee are starting to bother me.  I will attribute it to going a bit too fast on Tuesday's 3 and not taking the full time to recover post run.  I'm going to give myself two days of rest and hopefully these issues will subside.  If not, I will pursue alternative therapy - a band for my ITB and therapy if it gets more serious.

My splits were: 9:44, 9:29, 9:36, 9:55, 10:06, 9:57, 9:57, 9:48, 10:20, 10:15.  I had a hard time slowing my pace down, but was able to get it to target pace later in the run.  I had a rough time at the end since it started to get hot and I just wanted to be done.  Mentally, I lost focus, which isn't a good thing.  But at least I got it done!

In closing, I leave you with these little gems** from this race.  

Does anyone have tips for me on how to keep my mouth closed while running and how to take prettier race day pictures?  

**These bad boys look awful  and I am seriously contemplating racing with a paper bag over my head (with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth) so I can avoid seeing these.  Why must photographers take pictures during a race anyway?!

Hopefully your long runs and training are going well!  Any plans for the weekend?  How are you liking the cooler summer days?  Yay for less humidity!