I'm definitely a huge fan of the website MapMyRun, which allows you to do several neat things; first, you can go ahead and just use a cursor to map any random run you decide to do, as long as that run shows up on Google maps (those of you who run on military installations may have a little trouble doing this). Secondly, it allows you to find runs that other people have created in your area or hometown.
I thought it would come in handy to highlight the loop I did yesterday for a total of 10.5 miles. The lakes at Notre Dame, which are easily my favorite place(s) to go in Indiana, make up a two mile loop if you do a figure eight around them. The little leg jutting to the northwest is something I did in the middle of the 10-miler to break up the monotony. You see, as lovely as the lakes are, I occasionally have to do something to distract my mind from the fact that I'm running a double-digit distance...so I took off up St. Mary's road (the road that leads to St. Mary's University, an all-girls' Catholic university just across the way) and through a little path that leads out to Douglas. Douglas is a main thoroughfare, and South Bend drivers are mostly terrible at driving with respect to runners, so I decided to just loop and come back.
I would say this run easily made my top five favorite distance runs of all time. It's pretty difficult to beat any run that I did in the mountains of New Mexico or Colorado, for the sheer facts that one, I usually did them at a time where I wouldn't see other runners, so I felt like I had the scenery all to myself, and two, the environment and the weather were breathtaking. This run, while definitely pretty, takes a top spot because I didn't know I'd be able to do it - whilst running the entire thing, mind you, even if it was at a slower pace - and it is the first double-digit run I've completed in over three years. That, to me, marks a huge achievement. I'm in some of the best running shape of my life, and that feels pretty good.
Ironically, one might think that I'd consider beach running amazing, but after three runs on Grand Cayman, I've come to the conclusion that I love walking on the beach, but not running on it...although it's a great leg workout, the sand is far too uneven and even with my gimpy orthotics, it's still too painful to make it enjoyable on my knees and feet.
I think some of the great pleasure in this run came from the confidence of knowing I could do it. I'd felt a little unsure earlier in the week, from a combination of a post-vacation hangover/depression and a lack of long runs while in Cayman, but I feel fully restored now. Even better is knowing I only have two more long runs before the race. I'm more than on track to complete a marathon this year, a marathon that I'll be able to run in its entirety...no more walking!
(I should note that there is absolutely nothing wrong with walking during a race, and I certainly walk on water stops and for brief 30-second intervals when my heart rate monitor indicates to me that I'm pushing too hard.)
Only two things about this run were not perfect, but those are not so severe that they would keep me from basking in the glow of happiness for completing this. One is the grumpy old man who actually accelerated as I was crossing the road and would have hit me if I had slowed for even a second; on a college campus, that is very poor driving behavior indeed. However, I would guess that he's just angry about something else in his life and it had very little to do with me. The second is my slight fear of geese. The Canadian geese at Notre Dame are plentiful and sometimes angry, and they crossed in front of me no less than 15 times at different spots in my run, thus forcing me to take a wide berth through the grass to avoid them as they honked at me. Not a big deal, but I do always worry that one of them will eventually come after me, honking and flailing its wings, and I should get nipped.
Lastly, the track of the day. I went on a twee iTunes shopping spree yesterday before my run and downloaded this song. It played at mile 2 or 3, so it was hardly the song to push me through till the end, but it made me smile the entire time it was on and I would have been singing along if it wouldn't have offended the other runners on the path.
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