My First Almost 10 Miler of the Year

I had my first 10 miler of the year scheduled for this past weekend, and I was actually pretty excited about it. The furthest have run recently was 8 miles, which I had no problems with, so I figured 10 would be a nice distance.

Saturday (when I was planning on running) I ended up going out and eating way too much for lunch and missed my chance...so I figured I would just move the run to Sunday - no problems.

Sunday I woke up not feeling good at all - stomach issues and a little light headed. I felt much better after I ate, but still not 100%. However, I was determined to at least attempt the 10 miler. I decided to run close to home in case I needed to cut the run short. I started on my 4-5 mile route and about 2 miles in I noticed that they were done with the continuation of the regional trail (which takes me the first 2 miles of my loop). I was feeling pretty good, so I took the trail. The 'trail' (it is a paved path) ended up taking me to a park about 3.5 miles away from home. Not really knowing where I was (and stuck in a 'no outlet' neighborhood) I turned around and took the trail back to my loop. I took the longer version of the loop and passed my street at the end of mile 8. I wasn't done, although I was really starting to feel tired and beat-up. There is a loop that is just over a mile that I decided to tackle, thinking I would add an extra block to it to get me closer to 10. Well, somewhere along the ninth mile I hit a bit of a wall and just wanted to get home.

I ended up with 9.5 miles...not quite 10 miles, but not too shabby either - especially since I wasn't feeling great to begin with. I was expecting to be pretty sore this morning based on how I felt at the end of the run, but I don't feel too bad. I ran an easy 2 at the gym this morning - I would have gone 3, but I wasn't wearing good shorts...if you know what I mean...