From 0 to 26.2 in 7 months

TM early in the morning. I don't think I recovered enough, this run was a little painful and I couldn't go as fast as usual.  I take another rest day. Better to be a little undertrained than injured.

TM

went to the corner and back

Ran through Gunlock. I drove 6.5 miles in from the turnoff than parked my car then ran back to the turn off then back to my car.  The first half was down hill with a back wind.  So returning was difficult up hill with a head wind.  I did it just under a 10min/mile pace.  It took me 2hrs 09min to complete.  It weird going these distances I get love/hate emotions.  At times during the run I love it but a little while later I hate being out there. Then minutes later I love it again.  But at the end I amost always love it.  The great since of accomplishment you feel after pushing your mind and body.  This was the furthest I ran in my life at one time.  Next weekend another distance breaker.  It feels good.

nice and easy

This run was though because I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. Last weekend I ran 13 miles with 2 liters of water and had enough.  Today I went out with 2 liters of water to do my eight miles but I ran out about mile 5.  The thing I didn't account for was that I did this at 2 oclock in the afternoon where the sun just loves to take away your hydration.  So the last 3 miles were run with lack of hydration.  It was tough, but now that I am back home and got liquids in me I feel good.  Tomorrow I will be more prepared and also try to avoid the heat of the day.  It feels good though.  I am still glad I went out there.

I did some speed work on the track then did the stairs at the stadium.

Planned for 15 miles but my knee hurt too bad so I couldn't go much further.  Someone drove me back to my car.  I ran in pine valley it was down hill the first half took 1:11 to go 8 miles.  It took almost two hours to go 5 miles back. then someone picked me up.  I wasn't prepared for such an incline.

TM. I am recovering from knee pain so I took a few days off. coming back slowly

This was a great night run I started around 9pm and finished around midnight. It took 2:46 to complete. This was the furthest I have ever ran. I had a flashlight in hand and hit the road. I ran on the old highway to kayenta. I will invest in a head lamp because it is hard to see and keep form with a flashlight. This was my first night run of great distance I usually do like 3 or 4 miles at night with city lights.  I really enjoy night runs. No real pain on this trip. I have been using techniques from ChiRunning and it seems to be helping.  A week of resting the knee really did the trick. I remember about 3 months ago when 4 miles seemed like a real challenge, now I have 4 times that distance which seemed like a fantasty back then.  So I know that the 50 miler is totally possibe for me. It may seem like an incredible distance now but in time it will come. 

By the way, Does anyone know of a good first 50 miler course that I can do in about a year?? I want to create an exact focus instead of someday I'll do it. It will happen around next summer just got to pick out the one.

Morning run before class.  It was okay. Went on the trail by my house. One thing kind of cool about running on a bike trail is that there are others out there that you get say hi to silently thinking we got out here for another day. A morning run sets your day on a good path.

I ran 8 miles in 71 minutes. It was a good night run. I had energy at the end to do a fast final mile. Plus I glanced at the clock and wanted to make a good time so that motiviated me to push it.

The first 14 miles were okay but the last two were painful in my knee. I actually couldn't run any more at about mile 14 because knee would get sharp pains. So I ran about 2:25 for 14 miles then another 40 minutes for the last 2 miles (walked it). I will see how this goes. Two weeks ago I felt this but it felt better after a few days of rest but now it is back.