Beautiful ending to a wonderful week of running

Yesterday (Saturday) I jumped out of bed at 6:00 ready to hit the trails running. I wanted to get an early start, not because it was hot, but because I wanted to maximize the time I could be on the road. I needed to eat a pretty full breakfast. I was planning at least a 2 hour run. While letting breakfast settle (I have to do that) I chatted with some friends and read my Bible.Bluff Park

I finally got laced up and ready to go about 7:00. It was 66 degrees and 84% humidity at that point. That may not sound too cool to many of you, but for me it was glorious. For comparison, back home it was 75 with 100% humidity. During my run in California the temp got up to 71/68%. In Merida, according to the weather RSS feed I read, it would have been 82/100%.

I started out by running down to the beach which is just over 2 miles from the hotel. When I got down to Bluff Park I ran east along the top of the bluff to the end of the park. I then went down the steps to the beach where I met a group of 4 runners who looked like they were running together.

I ended up running with them and talking for about 30 minutes. They are with the Los Angeles division of the Aids Marathon training team. The lady I spent most of my time talking with is running the Florence, Italy marathon.

They were 11 minute pace group on a 9 mile training run and I jumped in just after they hit the 3 mile mark. They were doing a run/walk program with 5 minutes running and 1 minute walking.

My running partner told me about a running store a couple of miles away that might have something that I was looking for. I broke off from them and headed to the store. Since it is a running store and Saturday is a good day to run long in the mornings, they did not open until 10:00. I was too early.

Ship near the beachI then ran back to the beach and to the area where the group was training. I fell into the 15 minute per mile pace group. They were doing 2 minute runs and 2 minute walks. I floated between them just talking and enjoying the run for a while. But, that was too slow for my taste.

I ran a bit further down the beach back towards the Queen Mary. I knew if I got down there I would be at least 45 minutes from my hotel and I was already pushing 2 hours. I decided to run up into town and start making my way back to Bluff Park.

I broke all the hydration rules. I had been running for 2 hours without any water (you should not go more than 1 hour). I felt fine though and really never felt in distress. But, I was actively on the search for something to drink. I thought about getting personal with a sprinkler system, but after drinking bottled water for 3 years down here, the thought of drinking water out of a pipe just sounds disgusting.

I did finally find some water an Albertson’s. In the 5 minutes, or so, that I stood in line, I ended up downing a 1 liter bottle of water and 1 liter of Propel. The cashier was a little shocked to ring up 2 empty bottles.Beach and pier

I then finished off the run with a trip up the hill to the hotel. All said and done it was 13.27 miles in 2 hours 36 minutes and 14 seconds for a pace of 11:46. That is really a great run for me on several levels.

First, I have never run that far. Secondly, if you take out the time I spent standing in line at Albertson’s, the time taking pictures and videos along with the breaks I had to make as I transitioned from bluff to beach (in a couple of places I had to walk across a good bit of sand and did not want sand in my shoes), it was a really great time. Thirdly, I have not run more than 8 miles in a very long time. Months. This was a breakout run for me. Finally, it was a great run in that I just had a blast. I could have run further but was getting pushed for time.

This week I logged just over 30 miles from Tuesday to Saturday. That is a record week for me. Again, I broke a lot of rules (10%, hydration, etc.) to get there, but I never felt stressed and outside of my work responsibilities for the week, my plan was just to have a bunch of fun running.

Mission Accomplished!

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