Long Run Sunday: 6/5/11

I got out fairly early Sunday for a run, knowing it was going to be a very hot day.  I had planned out a new course leaving from my front door that would be a little over 7 miles.  I ran it without ever having even driven most of it, so I didn't know what to expect as far as hills were concerned. 

I started out feeling great.  I had my hydration pack with me filled with about 32 ounces of water flavored with sugar free Hawaiian Punch mix.  The first mile and a half or so wasn't too bad, but then the heat started to make an appearance.  There was still a little shade when I first started out, but the sun quickly rose to a point where the shade became almost non-existent.  I also hit my first real hill about 1.8 miles in.  The first 1.8 had been mostly downhill, so I knew I was in for a climb at some point.  It wasn't a terrible hill.  Only a small portion of it was what I would consider steep, but it went on for a full mile.  I gained about 60 feet in elevation over the course of that mile.  It doesn't sound like much, but climbing for a full mile starts to get difficult, especially with the heat, humidity, and the sun really starting to beat down on me.  At the peak of the hill I was about 2.7 miles in.  There wasn't much of a plateau before I started back down, losing all of the elevation I had gained.  The downhill stretch ended all too soon and I started another longer uphill climb of 85 feet over the course of 2 miles.  From there I only had about 1.5 miles left before home.  It was a mostly downhill stretch with a couple of exception over that 1.5 miles. 

I wasn't able to run the whole course.  I ran the first 4 miles, but started to get really hot and tired.  I decided to walk up at least a portion of the second long hill.  I ran and walked intermittently before making the call to just walk to the top of the hill and then reevaluate my options from there.  After making it to the top of that hill, I ran most of the way home, wimping out once to walk up another short hill.  I did manage to push myself pretty hard over the last half mile or so and ran up the final hill to the house. 

Overall, it was nice to be out, but I was disappointed that I had to take walking breaks.  The heat and the somewhat unexpected difficulty level of the hills killed my performance, but I soldiered on and lived to run again another day.

Today's Stats:  I did 7.17 miles in 1:19:30 for an average pace of 11:05/mile.  I've not run that slowly since back in January!