Notes
Yay! Ahhhh . . . .82 degrees w/ heat index of 87 by the time I finished. Sitting here under the fan with Gatorade, water and a protein drink feels really good! I wanted to sleep in so I missed going out with my friends and normal running people who got going early to beat the heat. By the time I putzed around and got it together it was after 1000. Oh well. I chose this route today b/c it had been a while, I like it, and it has a lot of good water and bathroom stops. It's also got a good mixture of trails, road, flat and hills, plus being in civilization (mix of campus, town and trails). Since I knew it would be hot and I haven't run much in the heat yet this year (except for being in FL) I figured I'd play it safe in case I ran into any trouble. I used the newer, larger water bottle for the first time and was very pleased. I filled it with Gatorade to start and then just added water as I went by the fountains.
I'm pleased with these splits. I wanted to go on my own so I could do my own thing. I wanted to go slowly. This is actually the perfect long run pace for me - add to it the heat today and I'm satisfied. I took a brief break at the fountain behind the Chamber of Commerce & again at Forum letting the watch go. The only other time I had to stop was at the intersection at Green Meadows and Providence. I felt like I waited forever there so I'm actually surprised that split is as good as it is. I must have had some gumption left. Going up Forum at mile10ish in the heat & sun wasn't a walk in the park, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.
I'm glad I got some heat work in & it's nice to know I can still do it. I am grateful to live in a community where I feel I can do so safely with water, services, trails and people around. It's a nice sense of security.
I forgot to add that I changed this up just a bit - I went down Hospital to Hitt by SHC & The Rec - then did 3 laps for about 1 mile around Stankowski b/4 heading up toward downtown. That made it a perfect 12. Oh - also, after Paige, I went down Monk.