An 18 mile run PR

I got up at 6:40am since I knew I needed to eat a lot and drive 45 minutes to Rend Lake. Plus, it was going to get really warm today and the wind was going to pick back up today. It calmed down last night as the sun went down and the temperatures fell. But I saw on weather.com hourly forecast that as the sun came up, the wind picked up as well. I finally got started at 8:25am with 13mph winds and by the time I end, it should be around 16mph. (26mph winds as I type this at 3:30pm).

I stopped off to use the restrooms at McDonald's. Did you know that they have the cleanest bathrooms? Anyway, as I walking to the bathroom, I had to go through a bunch of old guys (they were sitting across the aisle instead of in a bunch of tables on the same side) drinking coffee and talking politics and stuff. When I walked out, they all got real quiet as I walked through them and then I heard them talking about my skirt & what I thought was a whistle. Still not sure about that one but hey, I felt good about it!

First part of this run was on a paved bike path. More of a sidewalk actually. About 6.7 miles, it stops and you have to go on roads and that's when it gets hilly. I was feeling good throughout this run even mile 7. Cause at mile 7, I was actually thinking I could go another 2 miles and get 20 out of this run and then I'll be back on schedule. Silly Lindsay.

I waved at & talked to dog walkers along the way. Rend Lake is going through some construction so I had to run past workers and I waved at them. Then there was a biker coming towards me about mile 11. He was going downhill so was travelling fast and I told him that he should be wearing a helmet for safety. I kept expecting him to come back and yell at me.

I ate PowerBar Gel Blasts on the run. Four at mile 6 and three at mile 12. I was going to have two more at mile 15 but I couldn't muster it up. And I ended up being kinda hungry by the end of the run. I had my four water bottle belt on me. I didn't drink too much heading north. Only one bottle but the other three were used in the second half. I had two bottles left at halfway so I used 1 for each 3 miles. At this point, I was even using them to cool me off. Putting a little bit of them over my head and down my back.

I saw that 3 miles left, I could beat my previous best 18 mile run time of 3:00 even. I couldn't believe it. I had 35 minutes to run 3 miles. Then at 2 miles left, I still have 25 minutes to spare. I figured that even if I ran these last 2 miles at 12:30 minutes per mile, I would still have 3 hours but I knew I wouldn't be doing that. Then again, the last mile is pretty much all uphill.

And so I tried to keep going in the last 2 miles. That's when I really started to hurt. Hurt so much that I think I peed a little. And then also at the end when I finally hit the button and I stopped running, I leaned over, again a little pee came out. Yep, that's how I knew I really gave it my all out there on the stupid run. But I did it. 2:55.58. Still can't believe it. No way do I plan on doing that in a marathon but it's good to know that I did it AND on a hilly course too!!!

My calves were hurting me a little bit at the end. I walked around and stretched. I was not looking forward to the drive back home. I changed my shirt and felt so good to get that sweaty stinky mess off of me. I stopped off at McD's (the same as before) to order a chocolate & strawberry shake. All day I've been feeling OK with my legs, I'm really surprised actually. My knee got a little sore after a while. I iced it for a little while. And then got really tired laying on the couch. I cannot wait until later tonight when I can pass out!

I only paused a few times in my run but that was just to take pictures. No walking for this gal! Pictures are here and my Bones in Motion stats are below.

Snake warming himself on the path. Didn't even move when I ran past.

Guess camping season has already began.

This guy was dead. Not sure how. Didn't see any blood. Probably a heart attack.

I saw 4 deer at a clearing. By the time I got the camera out, they were already scampering away.

Tracks that happened when they poured the concrete. Wonder how long they've been there.

This time deer tracks!

Me in my wonderful running skirt. I was going to wear a gray sleeveless shirt but thought it would be cool this morning. Again, silly Lindsay.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 418 ft Location: Benton, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/02/10 Up/Downhill: [+892/-892] Time: 08:24 AM Difficulty: 3.7 / 5.0 Weather: Mostly Cloudy 72 F temp; 49% humidity 72 F heat index; winds S 12 G 24 Performance Distance: 18.01 miles Time: 2:55:58 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 46 /mi Calories: 1927 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 20 -0' 26 6.4 +0.3 -23 ft 2 9' 28 -0' 18 6.3 +0.2 -13 ft 3 9' 47 +0' 01 6.1 -0.0 +39 ft 4 9' 27 -0' 19 6.3 +0.2 0 ft 5 9' 57 +0' 11 6.0 -0.1 +13 ft 6 9' 33 -0' 13 6.3 +0.1 +16 ft 7 9' 56 +0' 10 6.0 -0.1 -16 ft 8 9' 51 +0' 05 6.1 -0.1 -3 ft 9 9' 46 +0' 00 6.1 -0.0 -13 ft 10 9' 35 -0' 11 6.3 +0.1 +13 ft 11 9' 47 +0' 01 6.1 -0.0 0 ft 12 10' 07 +0' 21 5.9 -0.2 +23 ft 13 9' 46 +0' 00 6.1 -0.0 -23 ft 14 10' 06 +0' 20 5.9 -0.2 0 ft 15 9' 46 +0' 00 6.1 -0.0 +4 ft 16 9' 44 -0' 02 6.2 +0.0 -42 ft 17 10' 01 +0' 15 6.0 -0.2 +9 ft 18 9' 53 +0' 07 6.1 -0.1 +26 ft end ** ** ** ** ** ft Versus average of 9' 46 min/mile ** Insufficient data to calculate this split

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 18 miles, Rend Lake

The most perfect 18 miler

I can't believe I just wrote that subject line.

The weather so perfect for today's run. The sky was a little threatening and I did have a drop of rain fall on me even before I began. Then around the 3 mile mark had a few more but that was it. The sun was behind heavy clouds so I didn't have to bring my sunglasses with me, my visor was all I needed. The weather was 46F and humidity was 57%. So great.

My Mom watched me get ready. This is the first time she has seen me run. She was very impressed with my level of organization. And then when I handed her my 4 bottle hydration belt full of liquid she was surprised at how heavy it was! It was really funny seeing question my sanity once I told her I was going to take a cold water bath afterwards! :-)

I took off about 40 minutes after I wanted to; I was hoping to leave at 7a but the added 40 minutes was fine since I was able to eat and let it digest a bit. Yay oatmeal with oat milk on it!

I took pictures & video for RuncastTV again. This time talking about my 2nd home town. I went to school from 7th grade to graduation from high school and then left for northern Illinois after a summer stint at the local community college. So I had loads to point out on my run.

I also saw my first road kill on these roads. Which is funny because that morning, or maybe the night before, my mother actually asked me what I do when I come across a dead animal. I told her I haven't seen one yet. I've smelled them but not seen one. Then of course as I was recording a video, I see these what I thought were feathers sticking up. Thinking that an owl got hit but no, as I got closer I noticed they were ribs. Then I saw the skull. Y-U-C-K!!! Not cool at all.

I was also a little scared of the dogs that run loose here. There are so many cats & dogs that run around and chase after cars (the dogs, not cats) that I knew that eventually one would come after me. I brought a Pepper Spray can with me down here but unfortunately left it at home (so many things to remember!) Luckily, all those in town were on leases (of course with absolutely no grass under them, just mud or dirt, poor things) and were barking at me. Then once I got out in the country, I saw 2 little dachshunds or some small breed out in a farm field, playing with one another. They saw me and started running with their short little legs toward me but stopped at the edge of the field.

I will also never trust Google Maps when it comes to small towns again. A road listed on the map as being well, I thought able to be travelled by car, ended up being only able to be travelled by foot (barely) and a 4 wheeler (as one passed me while running on it). Absolutely no road sign there. That's why I went off course, luckily, my Garmin told me so! It was an interesting little bit. I have video of those roads too.

Speaking of Garmin, I wanted "Phil" to tell me when to turn left & right. And I figured out how! Use mapmyrun.com to map out the route, then download the map as a .tcx file. Import that file into Garmin Training Center into the Courses. Then using the Course Point Tool, add turns, left & right or even just random points to the course. Make sure they are ahead of the turn as I didn't do that on a majority of the turns and I was turning as it was telling me. Also, when my course overlapped itself, as I ran past a turn it would tell me to turn right and then a wrong way way of left because on the way back, left is how I would be turning onto the road I just left.

The road in Bluford is something I'm not used to. A few days or a week before school starts here in August, they gravel the road. They lay down a layer of hot oil and then follow up with a layer of small gravel. With the weight of the traffic, it pounds it down and make it hard and driveable. The edges of the road that don't get traffic, still have loose gravel. So I think my hips & knees were sore after running mainly from that. Also out in the country, I ran on some really big rocky roads. My ankles kept turning from stepping on the rocks wrong. There were really no good way of running on those though.

Picture time!!

Ice Plant that was used to keep the trains refrigerated in the 30's & 40's.

Road to Bluford Lake which is really a reservoir that was used to be piped into the ice plant to make ice out of. I used to swim & fish in that lake!

Wild Easter Lillies

Bluford Grade School - back when I was going to school, the lot wasn't paved!! BIG Addition!

Webber Township High School - nothing as far as I know have changed with that building

As I brought out the camera, these baby cows took off running

One of the many trains that passes through town - also the reason why Bluford even exists and why it decreased in size (they stopped stopping in the town)

Back in the day, a doctor used to have his office out of this house.

A sign of drugs available at this house :-(

Here's the Garmin data information. The reason I'm including that is because I noticed that in last week's 16 mile run the Bones in Motion data showed that my mile splits from when I stopped included with the stopping time. So like mile 14 was 14:29 while in Garmin splits it was actually 10:11 min/mi.

And here's the Bones data.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 506 ft Location: Bluford, IL Elev. Gain: -10 ft Date: 03/21/09 Up/Downhill: [+738/-748] Time: 07:41 AM Difficulty: 3.7 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 46 F temp; 49% humidity 46 F heat index; winds SE 7 Performance Distance: 18.00 miles Time: 3:00:18 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 10' 01 /mi Heart Rate: 171 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1935 185 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' 17 -0' 44 6.5 +0.5 159 -14 ft 2 9' 40 -0' 21 6.2 +0.2 170 -3 ft 3 9' 45 -0' 16 6.2 +0.2 171 -17 ft 4 10' 26 +0' 25 5.8 -0.2 177 +36 ft 5 10' 22 +0' 21 5.8 -0.2 176 +23 ft 6 10' 12 +0' 11 5.9 -0.1 172 -6 ft 7 10' 09 +0' 08 5.9 -0.1 171 -23 ft 8 10' 28 +0' 27 5.7 -0.3 172 -10 ft 9 10' 17 +0' 16 5.8 -0.2 171 +26 ft 10 10' 05 +0' 04 6.0 -0.0 169 -46 ft 11 10' 10 +0' 09 5.9 -0.1 165 -23 ft 12 9' 43 -0' 18 6.2 +0.2 169 -26 ft 13 11' 51 +1' 50 5.1 -0.9 168 +32 ft 14 10' 01 +0' 00 6.0 -0.0 169 -19 ft 15 10' 00 -0' 01 6.0 +0.0 173 +6 ft 16 10' 01 +0' 00 6.0 -0.0 172 +30 ft 17 9' 38 -0' 23 6.2 +0.2 177 +26 ft end 9' 17 -0' 44 6.5 +0.5 179 -3 ft Versus average of 10' 01 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 18 miles, Bluford

Running in Bluford

Here's my 18 mile route. Going west and then through the town and then back out to back country of Bluford and back to the town. This should be interesting! I hope to find a person still. Haven't had any real bites. Otherwise, I'll just have to risk it and then persevere right through it again.

I have tried a couple different mapping programs but they all pretty much subpar for me. I started out with the one below, mapmyrun.com, which worked out great until they started making people have a paid account to print out & see the map without the ads. Then there's gmap-pedometer.com which doesn't have a login so I end up losing my maps most of the time because I have to save the link they give you somewhere. Then I found one called runningmap.com last night and started using it. But it's Yahoo! Maps and then it's also doesn't print right either but at least it does print a little.

What I really want is a way to get the course onto my Garmin 405 and then it will tell me when to turn left and turn right, etc. I was able to put a course on my Garmin from mapmyrun.com but it didn't tell me left or right. It just told me if I was on the correct course or not. I'll have to look around for help online.

Categories: 18 miles, Bluford, Google Maps

20 mile run

OK, so here I go.



I postponed my run from Saturday to Sunday because of the weather & wind. It was a few degrees warmer & sunnier and less wind on Sunday.

Started off around 9:15a.
1 mile into it, I had to stop and adjust the tongue of my left shoe because it was hitting that tendon that was sore.

2.77 miles into it, I had to stop again but this time I was worried. When I stopped it was because of a sharp, shooting pain in my foot, right where the bruise was on the bottom of my foot. I thought I really broke my foot that time. I slowed down by doing one of those hop & skip stops. I couldn't even put pressure on it to walk. I stood there crying for a few minutes as I kept testing to see if I could put weight on my foot. About 5 minutes the pain subsided and I could walk. I continued running.

Around this time I realised that one of my water bottle lid was open so water was spilling out of it and getting all over my thigh. It was 34 degrees and overcast. So my thigh was freezing. Great.

I decided instead of doing 10 out and 10 back, I would do 5 out and 5 back, 5 out and 5 back. So that's what I did. 5 out and 5 back. Then I thought, well, if I do 3 out and 3 back then that would get me 16 and then I would only need to do 2 out and 2 back to get me 20 and I could always stop and walk back if my foot was getting to bad.

On the first 5 out I estimated wrong (even though I had my Garmin with me I wasn't looking at it) and only ran 4.5 miles out so I was always .5 miles off.

So back out for another 3 and then turned back to the starting point. But then I looked down and realised that my snot rag was gone. I had brought 3 bottles with me and tucked the snot rag into my opening bottle holster. Alas, it fell out after mile 14. I debated if I should let it go or go back. I figured it fell out for a reason and I needed to keep going so I turned around at the starting point again. This was 15.5.

I ran one mile up (16.5) and found my snot rag and tried running to the next mile marker but alas, I couldn't make it past 16.6 so I turned around and figured that if I ran back that would be 17.5 and then I could finish up with another quarter mile jaunt out and back to get me back up to 18. And that's what I did.

Turning on my feet hurt the ball of my foot, I tried different ways, left to right; right to left, stopping and turning, wide turns but nothing seemed to help. My hip flexors hurt on both legs when I was done. I think it was mainly because of the cold. And the fact that I didn't do much exercise during the week. OK, I didn't do any at all. I was trying to stay off my foot as much as possible. But I don't think I injured them or anything.

The sun was out for a little bit around mile 6 then it disappeared and started snowing from mile 10 on. And it stayed that way the entire rest of the run and day! So much for being sunnier. The wind wasn't bad though. I just had to keep reminding myself that after running in this, nothing Memphis could give me (beside a constant downpour) could top this. I'm tough.

I stretched at the end. I got in the car, drove back to my house. Took a warm shower to thaw out. Then I fell asleep on the couch with my cat curled up in my arm for about 2 hours. I was exhausted.

I woke up and I was stiff. Of course. I also slept with my head turned and upright so I had a stiff & sore neck muscle too. On Monday at work, I was walking all funny. This is usually why I do my long runs on Saturday, so I can walk funny on Sunday and be fine on Monday. I had a meeting after work and I decided to walk to it to get he blood moving, so that helped I'm sure. Tuesday, I was fine and thought about going to the Y but decided against it. Tonight I went to the Y and got my elliptical on and then did a few sit-ups and worked on the express line weight machines for a quick set. Just enough to get the blood moving again.

I get my orthotics on Friday. I can't wait. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait.

To be honest, I dont know what happened in mile 13 & 16. I know I didn't walk at all so I don't know how the time got to be that way. My Garmin stats are not that time at all. They are 11:08 & 11:45. Weird.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 872 ft Location: Sycamore, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 11/16/08 Up/Downhill: [+242/-242] Time: 09:18 AM Difficulty: 3.9 / 5.0 Weather: Light Snow 34 F temp; 85% humidity 34 F heat index; winds W 8 Performance Distance: 18.00 miles Time: 3:13:08 Speed: 5.6 mph Pace: 10' 44 /mi Calories: 1751 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 06 -1' 38 6.6 +1.0 +23 ft 2 9' 41 -1' 03 6.2 +0.6 +7 ft 3 12' 52 +2' 08 4.7 -0.9 -10 ft 4 10' 13 -0' 31 5.9 +0.3 +9 ft 5 10' 05 -0' 39 6.0 +0.4 -13 ft 6 10' 54 +0' 10 5.5 -0.1 +16 ft 7 10' 49 +0' 05 5.5 -0.1 0 ft 8 10' 47 +0' 03 5.6 -0.0 -13 ft 9 11' 02 +0' 18 5.4 -0.2 0 ft 10 11' 06 +0' 22 5.4 -0.2 0 ft 11 11' 04 +0' 20 5.4 -0.2 0 ft 12 11' 04 +0' 20 5.4 -0.2 +13 ft 13 15' 25 +4' 41 3.9 -1.7 0 ft 14 10' 54 +0' 10 5.5 -0.1 -13 ft 15 11' 43 +0' 59 5.1 -0.5 0 ft 16 14' 29 +3' 45 4.1 -1.5 0 ft 17 11' 27 +0' 43 5.2 -0.4 +3 ft 18 11' 34 +0' 50 5.2 -0.4 -23 ft end 11' 40 +0' 56 5.1 -0.5 0 ft Versus average of 10' 44 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 18 miles, 20 mile run, ball of foot pain, Great Western Trail