10 Mile Metroparks Training Run with Jenn

So Jenn and I planned to meet at the Elyria end of the Bridgeway Trail for our run but imagine my surprise when I got to the entrance and the gate was still locked. I called Jenn and told her of the dilemma and then we decided to meet at the local community college and look up directions to the Lorain end of the Bridgeway Trail. Fortunately for us, Jenn has a GPS in her van so she got us there no problem and the gate was in fact open! The Bridgeway Trail is a 3.5 mile course that stretches from Elyria to Lorain. Our plan was to do the out and back on the trail and then run 1.5 miles back out on the trail and then head back to achieve our goal distance of 10 miles. We both got equipped with our running gear (ipod, Garmins, camelback for Jenn, Amphipod handheld for me) and then I snapped a quick picture of the trail map before we headed out on our run.

The trail was nice and shaded plus it was 7:30 in the morning so the weather was rather pleasant when we started our run. During the course of our run we had to go over the "shady" bridge as we named it because it would shake when we ran over it. A little unsettling and odd, but we managed. I even got a picture of Jenn running over said bridge.

When we were approaching 7 miles, we realized there was a pretty steep uphill climb and that is when we decided we would run out further than our intended 1.5 miles so that we would be at 10 miles before we approached the hill again and we could walk that hill as a part of our cool down. We managed to maintain a pace between 10:30-11:00 minute miles and we talked the entire time which made the time pass quickly. The run was very enjoyable and the scenery was great. I took pictures of where we ran while we were doing our cool down walk.

Once we were back to the start of the trail, I told Jenn that we had to go over to the playground. Afterall, running 10 miles certainly gave us the right to act like children! I walked up for a picture on the playground equipment and then Jenn asked me if I was going to go down the slide. Well, of course, I had to do it!!

I walked over to Jenn and told her it was her turn and she happily obliged!

I had a great time running with Jenn today and can't wait to do another training run with her soon!

Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!!

Perfect 10

Today's long run was another scaled back 10 miler in preparation for the Mill Creek 1/2 in two weeks. I was very happy to see the temperature was around 45* and the sun was shining when I headed out this afternoon. I planned to run around a 9:20 pace today since my training schedule called for an easy long run. Once I got out there I was feeling really good and decided to just run how I felt. The temperature threw me off since I am used to bundling up lately. I had to unzip my windbreaker after the one mile mark. By the end of mile two, the gloves came off. As I got to mile 5 I heard the horn of a train indicating it's approach at a railroad crossing. Fortunately, I was still about a 1/2 mile away from the crossing and the train was gone when I approached so I didn't have to stop and wait. In true Ohio weather form, the sun went down at mile 7 and my hands were instantly freezing. The gloves went back on and the windbreaker was zipped back up for the last 3 miles.

Mile 1-- 9:09
Mile 2-- 9:00
Mile 3-- 9:22 (slow steady incline)
Mile 4-- 9:15 (spent 1/4 mile telling a dog to go back home)
Mile 5-- 9:07
Mile 6-- 9:14
Mile 7-- 9:07
Mile 8-- 9:04 (nice downhill)
Mile 9-- 9:01
Mile 10-- 8:41

Time-- 1:31.00
Avg Mile-- 9:06

Today's run was great. I felt like I could have kept running after the 10 miles but of course I respected my training and ended the run.

Keep running, you're simply the best and you inspire me!!