Will Run For Food - Long Run Ending Week of 1/7/08

It's funny what motivates runners to get out the door. Today, mine was the thought of food at the end of the run (as well as a west side run). This was a good end to the running week. I was able to get in a great run that accomplished several things: a long run (10.8 miles), a destination run (Chelsea Market), a run outside of Central Park (part 5 mile loop and part West Side bike trail), and a calm and controlled run at a tempo pace (8:30 pace for 10.8 mile run - total time of 1:32:07).

I wanted to get in a long run this weekend and I was planning on how to accomplish that. There was the Fred Lebow Classic 5M on Saturday morning, but I didn't want to run on both Saturday and Sunday, which would give me only one day off for the week. Do I skip the race and just run on my own? Do I run the race and just tack on a couple miles before or after? Luckily some friends of mine were planning on meeting up at Chelsea Market later in the morning after their runs for breakfast and hanging out (thanks JM). Well, I thought, that is my reason and motivation to run downtown and try a different route. Food and friends are a wonderful motivator. So I decided to run the 5M this morning, which would allow me to run with alot of people and at a quicker pace than I would for part of a long run, and then run on my own to Chelsea Market. I used the USTAF website to map out an additional 5 miles or so. The race ended on 99th and East Drive and then I just continued to the transverse on 102nd, ran down the West Drive leaving the park on 96th street, running all the way to the West Side Bike trail, and then continuing downward until 14th street and 9th Ave (according to the website, this was about 5.8 miles).

I was able to run a controlled pace for the entire race and I felt great. It seemed to go very quickly and I was very satisfied with it knowing that I had another 5 miles to go. I ran the race in 41:13 for an 8:14 pace. Once the race ended, I was ready to continue on. I was excited to get over to the West Side. The bike trail is a route that I don't do that often, but I really like doing it. It has great views of the river and gives me a bunch of different things to look at that I don't get on my usual Central Park runs. Other than some expected leg tightness and soreness towards the end of the run, I felt good. No struggling and no looking at my watch - just enjoying the route and the views. This just shows me that getting out of the park helps a lot. Note to self: do this more often. Unofficially, the 5.8 mile portion of the run was at about 8:43 pace.

Keeping with the "out of park" theme, I'm starting to investigate out of town half marathons for the first half of 2008 to run.

For the week: Monday - 6 miles with downtown group, Tuesday - spinning, Wednesday - abs, Thursday - 6 miles, Friday - off, Saturday - 10.8 miles