Notes
Garmin measured this as 10.88.
I had a bit of water before getting started on this. It was already really warm. One great thing about running in Percy Warner is all the tree cover-very rarely did I have to run in the full sun. It was also really nice to take my shirt off and just run in a sports bra. I hate doing it on the road because of cat calling and other obnoxious things.
I started and seriously thought about turning around and running on the road. Haha. That first mile is tough. But one nice thing about today was I didn't have a workout to do so there was no pressure about time or pace. I didn't shoot for anything, just tried to stay strong. I figured no matter what I ran pace-wise, I was getting a good workout anyway. Running the 11.2 is kind of like running intervals with all the hills and heart rate changes.
I got a rush of adrenaline after the first mile because I realized it wasn't that hard and I felt strong. I always mentally brace for mile 3 hill because it is never-ending. I just tried to stay patient and not attack it. I am proud of my run today because I really focused on conserving-I didn't do a great job of that last week.
I got a bit frustrated from mile 6-mile 8ish. That one hill after the golf course is deceptively hard-I felt like I was crawling up it. Then for what felt like forever, there kept being little climbs but no downhill sections to recover. I didn't remember that section well from running it before but that's where I struggled.
Mile 9 I took a turn too close and ended up falling. Haha. My hands landed on the ground and I caught myself so I didn't actually hurt anything. Mile 9 hill is brutal but the rest of mile 9 actually isn't too bad. There are enough downhills after each uphill to make it bearable. I tried to stay strong on the last mile without going crazy.
I was pretty proud of this today. The 11.2 is ridiculously tough and that one section got to me mentally but I stayed strong without running stupid. Also, strangely, my stride felt way better on this than it did at the start. Normally I feel it the most on uphills but it was okay. I did notice on one uphill that my right leg was really fatiguing and that worried me that I am relying way too much on that leg and not using my left enough-we'll see. I'm doing everything I can to correct the imbalance.
I got really thirsty on this so I may have to put some water somewhere the next time I do it. I was having fantasies of drinking out of dirty puddles towards the end.