7 mile run to end the week

When: May 29, 2010
Where: Little Blue Trace Trail, Independence, MO
Temp: 65 - start and 70 - finish
Distance: 7.12 miles
Avg Heart Rate: 155
Avg Pace: 10:30/mi

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning so I could do my usual morning routine as if I was heading out to a race. So I drank my coffee, ate my cereal, used the foam roller to warm up the muscles and then started getting ready to head out to the trail. I wanted to start running early so I could beat the heat. I managed to get fill the Jeep up with gas and get to the starting point at around 6:10 a.m. During my warm-up walk, I snapped the following picture:



After about a 5 minute walk to warm-up, I hit the starting point and started my Garmin. It felt great to be running in cool temperatures. This was one of those runs where everything just seemed to click. I ran the first 3.5 miles listening to music, but had it low enough to hear the birds singing. I ran the remainder of the run just listening to the soundtrack that nature was providing. It was full of the songs from red-winged blackbirds, eastern meadowlarks, red-bellied woodpeckers, common yellowthroats, with some chorus frogs mixed in here and there. I did have some discomfort appear near my right knee during the run. It's the same ache that I've been dealing with for a while, but since it doesn't alter my gait and doesn't cause any pain, I just run through it. I figure since I'm at the end of my half marathon training a little bit of discomfort can be expected. The discomfort was gone somewhere during the 6th mile. The rest of the run was very peaceful and relaxing. When I finished the run, my heart rate was at 160, but by the end of my 3-5 minute cooldown walk it had dropped to 125.

I only took a few pictures while I was out this time. This picture was taken about 3/4 into the first mile. I liked the way the fog was hovering over the field.



This last picture was taken a couple of minutes after the above picture. I just wanted to see how the camera would take a picture while facing the sun.



All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better run to finish the week off. My next run will be the Amy Thompson Run 8K on Memorial Day.