Beautiful place

I wasn't too slow. In fact, I was pretty happy with my final pace. I had a 10 mile run on par for today. I'm not even following a schedule now. I had to give up on it a long time ago (like January). Anyway, I got directions and headed on up to Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park.

Got there a little after 9a and got everything ready; Phil my Garmin, water bottle belt with one big bottle in it (didn't bring my 4 bottle fuel belt with me) and my iPod. There's no way that I could run 10 miles without some music. I tucked my camera, Clif Shot Bloks and my car keys in my jacket pocket. Plenty of runners already on the trail. Most running the opposite way that I had planned on running.

1 lap on the trail that runs along the lake is about 4 miles I found out. I did that lap first. Then on the second lap I went "off course" and did the scenic way which is for pedestrians only and gravely. Quite pretty though. Then I had to head back around the southern part of the lake. It was quite windy there and my eyes watered a bit.

Then I joined up with the same path again as the first lap and by the time I got to my car I was just over 9 miles and I went another mile out to make 10, then swung back around to make up the other mile. I ended up going a total of 11 miles! YAY! Go me!

Things I saw along the way
Lots of runners as I mentioned. Only a few waved back at me. I ended up passing the same people around and around the lake as they were running the opposite direction as me. That was pretty cool. These 3 girls passed me going the other way and just stared at me as I waved to them. Bitches. I didn't even bother when I caught back up on the other side.

Lots of robins. They are definitely out and about. They also have very full bellies and flew very low. My mother told me that was because they were full of eggs. Not sure if that's true or not but I like to think that cause it reminds me of my mom.

Deer. Well, baby deer I think. It was odd. The three of them were along a slope of grass and their tails were down but I didn't see any adult nearby so I guess they were on their own. They were missing their fawn spots so I guess they were old enough.

On the first loop, I passed by the main pavilion and parking lot with the nice bathrooms and I saw a table with water coolers & what looked like a bottle of pretzels. My eyes adjusted and I saw that the sign on the table read Go! St. Louis Marathon Training Run. Too funny! I ran over and took a quick picture.

Then on the second loop and passing the same area, more tents, a motor home & some tarps around the pavilion went up and they had a fire going. I passed the pavilion and it says that it was the Law Enforcement Polar Bear Plunge. I wanted to stick around and see it for myself but I didn't know what time they started. It would be a good day for it though with the colder temperatures here lately!

All in all, I felt pretty good as the run ended. My splits were pretty consistent throughout the run until I hit mile 7 then I started to slow down. At mile 3 I had a couple swigs of Gatorade. I also had 2 Shot Bloks. I learned to leave them on the side of my mouth so that they'll dissolve instead of trying to chew them. It still took some work but I got it so that I wasn't choking on them like last time. At mile 6 I did the same thing again, Gatorade and 2 more Shot Bloks. Then I started guessing that I'd be able to go longer than 10 and so instead of eating at 9, I ate them at 8 miles and drank a lot more Gatorade.

I am quite jealous over the course of this park. It's quite pretty and long and I would love to be able to run on it every Saturday instead of the backroads of DeKalb County. Boring, flat & windy. Below you'll find several photos that I took while out. You'll see the Go! St. Louis table that I saw as well as the Polar Bear plunge.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 450 ft Location: Maryland Heights, MO Elev. Gain: +3 ft Date: 02/28/09 Up/Downhill: [+354/-351] Time: 09:16 AM Difficulty: 3.7 / 5.0 Weather: Light Snow 29 F temp; 71% humidity 29 F heat index; winds NE 14 Performance Distance: 11.00 miles Time: 1:51:19 Speed: 5.9 mph Pace: 10' 07 /mi Heart Rate: 175 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1189 184 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 06 -1' 01 6.6 +0.7 160 0 ft 2 9' 57 -0' 10 6.0 +0.1 177 +4 ft 3 10' 09 +0' 02 5.9 -0.0 176 +3 ft 4 10' 07 +0' 00 5.9 -0.0 176 -3 ft 5 10' 02 -0' 05 6.0 +0.0 175 +6 ft 6 10' 06 -0' 01 5.9 +0.0 175 -3 ft 7 10' 27 +0' 20 5.7 -0.2 177 -3 ft 8 10' 21 +0' 14 5.8 -0.1 177 +10 ft 9 10' 16 +0' 09 5.8 -0.1 177 -10 ft 10 10' 18 +0' 11 5.8 -0.1 176 -4 ft 11 10' 04 -0' 03 6.0 +0.0 180 +3 ft Versus average of 10' 07 min/mile

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Categories: 11 miles, Creve Coeur, pictures

16 miles

It's been nearly a week now since I had my long run of 16 miles and I should talk about it before I forget it entirely.

I got up early and ate my oatmeal and bagel. That seemed to be enough food for me. However, getting Brent up and going was another task all in itself. Once he was up, he tried putting his new bike rack on his car but it didn't work too well. So he couldn't take his bike. Come to find out, that worked out quite fine.

Off to the park. After doing a lot of research, I found Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park and it sounded like their trails were long enough to make it work without having too much boredom or repetition. We found a parking spot and luckily, we passed a Casino on the way to the park so Brent said that's where he was going to go to hang out in the 2 hours and 40 minutes I thought it was going to take me.

It was kinda chilly out but Brent was nice enough to lend me his long sleeved shirt and said that I could dump it if I get too hot. I also had my gloves and a snot rag with me as well. I had my hydration belt, 2 bottles with water and 2 bottles with red Gatorade. I also had 2 different types of gels with me after the last week debacle with the Shot Bloks.

Off I went, things went well at first. I realised that I didn't have my battery pack for my camera so I ended up holding it for a long time. There was a Diabetes walk gathering up. The first time around I didn't see too many people. It was pretty easy out. There were a few bikers that didn't bother saying anything like "On Your Left" or "Coming Behind You!" Stupid ass bikers.

However the second time around, I started to run into groups of walkers taking up the ENTIRE path, on both sides of the yellow middle line. I was so pissed. There were many times in which I had to cut in the middle of the pack because no one bothered moving to one side after I said something.

Between mile 5-6 I ate my first gel. It wasn't too bad. It was a Raspberry HammerGel. I kept on moving. Things going fine. I had taken off my gloves at this point and tucked them in my belt however, I kept losing one of them and having to backtrack to get it. I had also taken off his shirt but just left it around my neck floating behind me and it wasn't that bad for me to do.

I was watching my Garmin, making sure my pace was steady and watching the Avg Pace to see that it stays around 9:35 or so. Sure enough, for a couple miles there, I was around 9:35! Pretty cool!

Between mile 10-11 I took my other gel. That one didn't taste as good and it was a Strawberry-Banana PowerGel. That's what a lot races use though and I have used in the past. Just gonna keep trying out the different ones.

Here comes the odd part: around 14.67 miles I got a really weird foot thing going on. My left arch was seriously hurting and my right foot started hurting bad too but I couldn't figure out where. But my left one I was most worried about. It seriously felt like my arch had fallen. It was sooo hurting. But after another mile or so it was gone. I'm not sure what happened there unless it was a cramp. I never had a cramp while running before. So that was a first.

At the end, I was back and forth a while trying to get my 16 miles. I saw my Avg Pace keep getting higher and higher but hey, 16 miles! Gotta give me a break somewhere! At one point, I was passing another runner and still in my lane and this kid comes running from behind his group of family and directly into me, making me scream and knocking me off my game. As I scream and he stumbles over me and into the girl that I was passing. It was just bad all over. The mothers just stare at me as I throw my hands up in the air in frustration.

I see Brent driving by, I wave, he waves and then he parks and comes running up to the path and runs the last .6 miles with me. That was nice. I ask what time it was. He said almost 12:15. So not what I was expecting him to say! All in all, I stopped my watch and it said 2:35. Which is 5 minutes faster than I predicted! and 5 minutes is HUGE in running! Come to find out that was an average of 9:44 min/mi which is good for 16 miles! If I kept that up (which I doubt I will) I'll have run a 4:15 marathon!

I didn't get much stretching done afterward since he had to go to his second whiffle ball game at 1p. I had to go to the bathroom too but that had to wait as well. We made it to the diamond at the very end of the first game and I took the liberty to stretch nicely after that on the grass in the sun. Brent also rubbed my poor feet a little bit between innings.

Once we got home, I took a shower. I had plenty of salt on me! Then Brent was nice enough to rub me down with his foam roller. And he quit enjoyed making me scream out in pain. But it was the good type of pain and something I really needed! Holy cow, it hurt but felt so good. And really good when he rolled it over my arches. My poor feet. We later went to Six Flags where there was a lot of walking but I managed to do it.

On Sunday, Brent again rubbed me down and found a huge knot in my left thigh that he just kept rubbing over and over and over. I think he was a sadist at that time because he had such the evil, devilish grin on his face. But I'll tell you what, it worked! My train ride didn't hurt at all.

So now to this week. I have been sick since Monday night. So no running at all since that Saturday morning. I have a 10k race on Sunday and was supposed to do another 6 afterward to make it a total of 12. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Should I run Friday evening to get out the cobwebs? Or run on Saturday morning to give my body a few more hours of rest? I have a great pain in my facial cavities now from sinus pressure. I'm taking decongestants but I don't think it's working too well. I have no idea what to do. I don't know if I'll be able to run at all until this thing clears up. I can barely walk normally. On top of all that I'm coughing like a fiend as well!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 450 ft Location: Earth City, MO Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/18/08 Up/Downhill: [+114/-114] Time: 09:49 AM Difficulty: 2.4 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 56 F temp; 57% humidity 56 F heat index; winds NE 9 Performance Distance: 16.00 miles Time: 2:35:42 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 44 /mi Calories: 1617 Map Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 18 -0' 26 6.5 +0.3 0 ft 2 9' 42 -0' 02 6.2 +0.0 0 ft 3 9' 36 -0' 08 6.2 +0.1 0 ft 4 9' 35 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 5 9' 22 -0' 22 6.4 +0.2 0 ft 6 9' 28 -0' 16 6.3 +0.2 0 ft 7 9' 40 -0' 04 6.2 +0.0 0 ft 8 9' 35 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 9 9' 56 +0' 12 6.0 -0.1 +19 ft 10 10' 00 +0' 16 6.0 -0.2 -20 ft 11 9' 35 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 12 10' 05 +0' 21 6.0 -0.2 0 ft 13 9' 34 -0' 10 6.3 +0.1 0 ft 14 9' 48 +0' 04 6.1 -0.0 0 ft 15 9' 59 +0' 15 6.0 -0.2 0 ft 16 9' 51 +0' 07 6.1 -0.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 44 min/mile

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Categories: 16 miles, Ballwin, Brent, Creve Coeur, sick