Saturday 7+

After having icy conditions Friday in the area I wasn't sure how Saturday's run would be. I had went out on a car accident at 3:30am so that messed my sleep up. Annette was running with Cheryl at 6am but I opted to run with a later group at 7:45am. Why everyone has to start so early I don't know. Some just want to get it done and over. In the summer you start early to beat the heat. I haven't figured out all the reasoning behind the early starts in the winter other than people having other obligations they need to get to.

The late group decided to do what we call the Mt Tabor loop. It's about 7 miles around and that was exactly what I needed. It was a cold 30 degrees when we started with little or no wind. Somehow I ended up leading the group down Hwy 89 towards Mt Tabor. It wasn't too far down the road when I found the first icy patch on the road. This made the run a little hazardous. We actually moved over to the grass on some of this section as we sure didn't want anyone falling down on Hwy 89.

After we turned on Mt Tabor I started slowing down. About 1/4 mile down the road we encounted another icy patch where the road crossed a small creek. These were pretty tricky and if you ran across them you were probably going to fall or slide. I think one of the ladies at the back of the group did fall on one of these but luckily she wasn't hurt.

After about my second water break I fell to the rear of the main group. There was still a couple ladies behind me a pretty good ways. It just seems I cannot hold any kind of good pace anymore. In October and November it would have been nothing for me to be maintaining a 10:20 pace on this run. Now I was hovering around 11:20. What gives?? I did have a little foot pain on my left heel which I always have but I also was starting to get some pains in my left knee. My right leg that had the stress fracture felt great. So this kind of messed with my head a lot. Was it the shoes?? I keep thinking the shoes are messing me up. But that really should not be the case. I was running in Saucony Pro Grid Hurricane 9's that were almost brand new. These are super cushioned and made for over-pronators. The leg doctor had given me inserts to use while my leg was healing so I thought maybe these were causing the twinges in my knee. I had actually taken them out for this run just to see how it would feel. Maybe its just old age. Maybe I should just bike.

The run continued. Mt Tabor has some nice rolling hills and I ran up every one of them. We turned on Hickory and more rolling hills. I just ran an easy pace but It really wasn't that easy. Maybe it's the extra 4 pounds of holiday weight. I need to lose this and get back to my marathon weight goal of 170 but I have never had the best eating habits. It's much easier in the summer for me.

After I turned on Dogwood I heard someone running up behind me and it was Bailey. She had gotten to the school late and had run about a 9:00 pace trying to catch up to us. I could see the two lead groups slightly ahead of us. Bailey said she was having some knee issues so she ran the rest of the way in with me. It was nice having someone to talk to and finish out the miles. Hwy 321 has some huge hills on it with the last one we all nicknamed "Heart Break Hill". Well, let me tell you we ran every hill on 321 and conquered Heart Break Hill with no problems. I may have lost speed but my hill climbing ability is still there if not better. It's just hard to not be where I was 3 months ago.

Afterwards a bunch of the runners went to "The Diner" which is a new restaurant in Cabot for breakfast. This seems to be a tradition on some runs and the Cruisers try to eat at different places in town, not that we have many choices at all. I will have to say the food at The Diner was good but their service was somewhat lacking. They were packed with people and the cashier didn't even know how to collect money on two tickets together. They are a new business only being open a couple weeks so things should get better hopefully.

Here are my splits from Saturdays run. I am not happy with them but they are what they are.
Total miles - 7.6
Time - 1:28:10
Avg. Pace - 11:36
1-10:54
2-11:26
3-11:05
4-12:03
5-12:08
6-12:10
7-11:20
.6-11:46
1034 calories