What a beautiful day today! Yesterday was gorgeous as well – mid 70’s, nice and sunny. Definitely different than the months of freezing cold weather, snow, rain, etc. My goal today was to try and complete a 10 mile training run. Even though I’ve completed 2 half marathons prior to this, I never actually ran 10 miles in training. My longest run was a combined 5K and 10K prior to last year’s Wine & Dine, and then I totally slacked off before the Princess Half back in February. With the St. Luke’s Half coming up in 2 weeks, I made it a point to get myself better prepared for it (and the rest of the running season).
Armed with an ice water bottle and Gatorade chews (which I’ve found I like much better than the Clif Shots I used to carry), I headed out along the NorBath Trail. My original plan was to get out around 7am, but I ended up sleeping in a little later, and starting around 9:30. Two hours later and I completed 10.2 miles! I kept a pretty decent pace of around 12 miles per hour – somewhat slower than my usual target of between 11 and 11:30, but not bad for a longer run. To top it all off, the metatarsal pad I put in the my right shoe helped a lot and I had zero ball of foot pain! My legs definitely felt tired as I got close to mile 10, but overall, it was a solid endurance-building experience.
The next two weeks will be a taper period, with a 6-miler scheduled for Easter weekend. This all leads up to April 27th and the St. Luke’s Half marathon in Allentown, PA!