Need for Speed Relay 2008

Well, based on the weather reports we were all seeing for the week prior to the Need for Speed Relay, this year's version would be unlike last year's. The weather was supposed to be hot, almost record heat, and unfortunately the forecasters were right. It was going to be in the low to mid 90s all day long.

I was debating for weeks whether or not I would be doing the relay since I really did not know how I was going to feel when off of the Synthroid for several weeks and the effects of the low iodine diet (especially no salt). I kept up my running (albeit at a more relaxed pace and shorter runs) for the last couple weeks and felt surprisingly fine. Based on that information, I figured that I would not have a problem running the relay, especially since I was running the shortest leg - 2.9 miles. I originally was planning on stepping down from the team but they gave me the option of doing the shortest leg, coupled with the fact that if I were unable to run due to health reasons, someone already on the team would run for me. Even though I did not have the pressure or worry of having to sustain a long leg, the hot weather was worrying me a bit. Besides just the strain the heat puts on a normal runner's body, mine would be in a slightly weaker condition than the others. I thought as long as I play it smart, I would be OK. I made sure to eat and hydrate extensively the night before, and eat bananas, fruit, nuts, and water before and after my leg. I felt I was prepared to run.

I ran the fourth leg this year, a 2.9 mile run through both trails and paved road. This was a big difference from last year which was 6.5 miles, largely on trails with the infamous "wall" in the middle of it. Although I enjoyed my leg last year, I was happy not to have to run an extensive leg in the heat this year.

As I was in the transition area waiting with the rest of the teams, I was getting a bit nervous watching my teammates, all of which are great and experienced runners, having trouble in the heat and conveying how tough it was out there. Although this was a short leg, I made sure to keep on drinking and dousing my body and head with water as long as I could before the handoff. At about 12 o’clock or so, LL came storming into the area and I readied myself to take off. Luckily, he came in about 5 or 10 seconds behind another runner and I was glad that I would have someone to concentrate on during my leg. While I knew it would be difficult to pass him, I made sure to at least keep him in view. Otherwise, I would be all by myself with my own thoughts, which was the last thing I wanted.

I knew it was going to be one of those days when it was tough for me to put together a strong pace, even for the first mile or so. The effort was there, but mentally the conditions were hard to overcome. The first mile or so of the leg was on paved roads through a residential area with limited shade cover. The runner in front of me was getting a little further away but I could still see him. I was passing several walkers, which gave me a slight mental boost (you need small victories wherever they come). All I was hoping to see soon was the sign for the halfway point - once I passed it I knew that I only had to muster another 1.5 miles. No matter how I was feeling, I knew that I could do that (thinking that others had to do three times this amount). Luckily the middle part of the leg offered some help from the trees and a small respite from the sun. As I came out of the trails, a volunteer was waiting with a cup of water (bless her heart) and directing me into an open field with no trees, only direct sunlight. At that point, I checked my watch and crudely figured that I only had about 5-6 minutes left to go and kept telling myself to stay steady and put one foot in front of the other. This would be over soon enough. Luckily, halfway through I heard the cheering of the transition area - this was a beautiful sound. I didn't know where exactly it was coming from, but I knew that the end couldn't be too far away and the struggle would soon end. This gave me the motivation to keep on going and muster a strong finish for my teammates. Once I left the grass and hit the paved road, the cheering of the teams was getting louder and louder and I knew that I was almost there. I saw the smiling and encouraging faces of my teammates and happily handed off to GW.

I felt that I was going at a pretty slow place (9-10 minutes per mile) but according to the results page, I ran my leg in 23:10 (7:59 pace). I was totally surprised by that. However, I really didn't care. As long as I was able to be out there in the race contributing to the team, that is all I wanted. Once again, it is amazing to see the power of the mind. I would guess that nearly everyone out there began their leg worrying about the heat and how their body would react. However, everyone was miraculously still able to finish and finish well. It shows you what you are capable of doing when you just put one foot in front of the other.

Even with all the heat and worry, I was glad that I ran the race. Once again, we had a very cohesive and supportive team that was a lot of fun to be around. Luckily, everyone came out of the heat in one piece and was able to recover nicely.

I Hate the Heat

I was only able to make it out to two runs last week (week of 5/19/08). One was the regular Thursday night group run. I have been pleasantly surprised to see that as the weather has gotten warmer, the number of people has been increasing, to an average of about 10-12 people. This past Thursday was a much smaller group, only about 5 of us. As the Laminator mentioned on his blog, we spent the entire run chatting back and forth, mostly him giving me some very helpful tips (as well as confirmation) of my current treatment. It was great speaking with him and being able to bounce some questions of him. The other three speedsters in the group were well ahead of us to the point that we lost sight of them about a quarter into the run. I didn't really mind at all. Even though the Laminator and I were in the back of the pack, we ended up running 50:33 for the loop - about an 8:25 pace which is really good for me (a bit slow though for the Laminator). Even though I didn't feel like I was going that fast, it is amazing how running with someone else can allow you to go faster than you think.

In order to get my long run in for the week (and to make up for the fact that I only ran one other time during the week), I extended the run to 11 miles instead of 10. Although I started the run at 10:45 in the morning, it was already hot outside, which was not a good sign for me. I hate running in the heat - I tend to overheat very quickly and wear down mentally in high heat and humidity. I am much more of a cool/cold temperature runner. I planned on running my usual West Side route down the West Side highway and back (adding a half mile in each direction). The first half went pretty well, but I realized right away that the West Side had very little shade and it was going to suck out my energy on the way back. I tried to keep up a good pace and stop off at the few water stations to keep myself hydrated. Although I kept up a relatively consistent pace for the first half of the run, I knew that the second half would not be pretty. My split for the first half was 47:39 for 5.5 miles (about an 8:40 pace). I usually run about 8:25-8:30 pace when running my usual 10 mile run. After taking my PowerGel and a three minute rest, I started the second half of the run at about 11:45 or so and it was hot, and I knew that I probably had a struggle ahead of me. As I began my run back north up the West Side highway, I was desperate for some shade and found myself weaving back and forth to try and catch any sliver of road out of reach from the sun. Mentally I was in trouble. The sun was beating down, I was stopping at every water fountain, and I was well aware that I had another half hour or so still to go before the end of the run (this was feeling eerily familiar to my Nike Half 2007). I took a few walking breaks along the way (running up the hill back into Riverside Park and along the side streets on the way to CP), which I usually don't take, and kept on pushing myself any way I could to get back to Engineer's Gate. My time for the second half of the run was 54:15 (9:52 pace). This was the first time in many, many months that I found myself feeling sluggish, and struggling considerably (the heat was a huge factor for me, as usual). Given the weather conditions, I was not unhappy with my overall time of 1:41:55 (9:16 pace), but rather how I paced the run. My first half was about 7 minutes faster than the second (huge gap), in which I struggled considerably on the second half of the run. I went out too fast given the weather conditions and paid for it. Hopefully this is not a sign of the summer heat to come - because I won't be able to take it.

RACE WELL EVERY TIME

Some good advice from our friends at Runner's World...

RACE WELL EVERY TIME
Use these rules gleaned from elite runners to race well all year long.
PUBLISHED 01/30/2008

For a weekend of thrilling races in New York City last November, I had the best seat in the house: the sidecar of the lead motorcycle. I was a stride away when Ryan Hall surged to the front at the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials, crushing the best field ever assembled. The next day at the ING New York City Marathon, I watched Martin Lel sprint to an amazing finish. Here are the most important lessons I observed that could help you in your next event, no matter your pace or distance.

PLAN: Make it to the starting line healthy You are only as strong as your weakest link. Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and 2:08 marathoner Abdi Abdirahman were favored to make the Olympic team, but Meb toed the line with a calf issue and Abdi had been plagued with a sore hip flexor. While these two powerhouses led early and battled hard, the stress of racing magnified their injuries. Meb fell to eighth place, and Abdi dropped out at mile 18.

ACTION: Know when to restInjuries happen, but by allowing ample recovery time during training, you can help avoid arriving at the start with aches and pains. Follow a hard day with one or two easy days, and a hard two weeks with an easy one (reduce mileage by 10 to 20 percent). Take a rest day at least every 10 days. And at the slightest hint of injury, reduce workload and intensity, or resort to cross-training, and seek physical therapy.

PLAN: Run your own race When the Trials pace picked up at mile nine, Brian Sell was left behind. But at mile 22, Sell passed Dan Browne and secured the third and final spot on the Olympic team. Had he gone with the early surge, however, the outcome might have been different. Fast early miles are not Sell's strength, and he knew that. Likewise, Lel knew his power was his savage final sprint. So he hung with the leaders until the finish was in sight, then he let his kick do the talking.

ACTION: Itemize your strengths Understand where you excel and where you don't by taking notes after races and analyzing past performances. Then develop a race strategy that maximizes your strengths--and stick to it.

PLAN: Finish strong Hall's and Lel's victories had something in common with the last four world records in the marathon--they all were run with a faster second half than first half. Running a negative-split race is all about energy management. The slower the early miles, the more fat you burn relative to glycogen, thus saving your primary energy source for later. Additionally, easing into a race gives your body time to process any lactic-acid buildup, thus delaying fatigue. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that you spend a smaller percentage of the race tired or in pain.

ACTION: Go negative Run the first half of your next 10-K or half or full marathon one to two percent slower than your projected goal time. (Negative splits aren't the best strategy for 5-Ks.) For a 44-minute 10-K, for example, that calculates to a first half run at a 7:11 to 7:15 pace, thus hitting the halfway mark at 22:30, followed by a 6:55 average for part two. Having to "make up" time can seem stressful to some runners, so practice negative splits during tempo runs to build confidence in the strategy. Over time, you'll be celebrating at the finish like Hall and Lel.

Healthy Kidney 10K - 5/17/08

Overall time of 46:13 and a mile pace of 7:27. This was a two second PR for me in the 10K distance (Scotland 10K in March 2008). This has been a really good running stretch for me over the first quarter/half of 2008. Again, I know these don't last forever so I am glad to ride this a far as it goes.

This was my first race since the corral system was implemented a few weeks ago. Everyone was discussing their bib color on Thursday, but I did not really know yet what the colors meant or how the corral system was set up. When I picked up my number yesterday, I had a red bib and a number of "1596." In addition, the bib had a blue sticker on it - I didn't know what it represented but I would find out later at the race.

In order to try and squeeze in a longer run today, I decided to run an easy 3 miles or so from Engineer's Gate to the start of the race - these three miles plus the race would give me about 9.2 miles plus for the day. It was getting a bit hot during my pre-run but it was a good way to loosen up my legs before the race. I've noticed in the past that I've gotten good race times when I've run 2-4 miles beforehand.

I got to the start of the race with about 10 minutes to spare and made sure to find my correct corral. I saw that there was a 0-999 corral so I figured that I needed to find the next corral, which was probably 1000-1999. Evidently, I would not need to go any further. Once I passed by the 0-999 corral, the person checking people in told me that my blue dot on my bib allowed me to start the race in the first corral. I thought to myself "oh my god", I can't believe that I am going to start a race with the elite and top athletes. I still don't know exactly what the blue dot meant, but I didn't care. It allowed me to begin with the big boys. I figured that this would probably never happen again so I might as well take advantage of it. I looked around and saw some very fast Flyers (PD, JD, JT) and thought to myself "what am I doing here?" but I was going to have fun with it.

I knew that start in the first corral would have its good and bad points. On the good side, I would be able to get out of the gate right away and be able to "ride" the quickness of the faster runners. However, I also knew that if I didn't watch myself I would get sucked into running a fast first mile and potentially tire myself out. Instead of passing people in the beginning as I've done in the past when starting in the middle of the pack, I knew that most of the first and second corral would be passing me and I needed to be disciplined enough not to go any faster. Well, the plan did not exactly go as I had hoped.

When the gun went off, I tried to stay calm and not go out too fast. I was feeling OK during the first mile. Even though I didn't feel like I was going that fast, I knew that it was probably just an illusion and that the quicker people ahead of me were causing me to go faster that I had hoped. I ended up running my fastest first mile ever - a 7:08. I got a little worried at that point that I went out too fast and that I would struggle for the rest of the race. I was able to still get a very fast time for mile 2 (7:18) but I was beginning to tire out a bit and I knew that I still had 4.2 miles to go. From that point on, it was going to be a mental race for me, rather than a physical one. I needed to convince myself to stabilize my pace and slow down a bit or else I would hit the wall and have a very hard and uncomfortable second half of the race. Although I was able to gut out good times for mile 3 and 4 (7:25 and 7:45), I was worried about the fact that my times kept on increasing and I was struggling mentally. This is where you see what you are made of. Sometimes the best races are when you are able to recover well in the middle of a race, rather than just getting a good overall time. I was able to bounce back on mile 5 (7:33) and then pick it up a little bit for the last 1.2 miles (7:31).

I was extremely happy to see that I beat my previous 10K PR from only a month or so ago (Scotland 10K) by two seconds. While the Scotland 10K was a consistent race overall where I felt great throughout and got my first 10K PR in several years, I think I was prouder of this one. I went out way too fast in the beginning (my fault) and had inconsistent mile times, but I was able to recover mid race and run a strong mental race. I could have easily gone in the other direction after the 5K and slow down considerably, but I told myself to keep going and to ride out the rough patches until it got a bit easier. Mental toughness is equally or more important than physical importance in a race.

Mile Splits:
Mile 1 - 7:08
Mile 2 - 7:18
Mile 3 - 7:25
Mile 4 - 7:45
Mile 5 - 7:33
Last 1.2 miles - 9:01 (mile pace - 7:31)
Total Time: 46:13
Avg Pace: 7:27

Back on the Horse - for now

The month since my last race on April 13th has been spent on a mix of running, doctors appointments, surgery, recovery and now running again. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we are always concerned about how it is going to affect our running. I guess it is a little defect in the brain that we all have.

I found out at the end of my March that my surgery was going to be scheduled for April 23rd. After a little internal coaxing, I was fine with the fact that I was not going to be able to run the Lehigh Valley Half as I had planned (there were more pressing issues at the time), but already I was thinking how my surgery would affect my running over the next few months and how it would affect, if at all, my plans of a possible marathon at the end of the year.

Prior to my surgery, there was no reason for my running to be affected at all. I wasn't on any medication and there were no pre-op restrictions I had to follow. I decided to keep up my usual routine of 20+ miles per week, including a long run, up until only a couple days before my surgery. In fact some of my best running during the past few years came during the two or three weeks leading up to my surgery, with PRs in two consecutive races and a great 15K time. I was feeling very strong and confident during this period. Keeping up with my schedule was a way of keeping me sane before the surgery and building my fitness up to a point that I wouldn't be adversely affected by a couple week layoff. The only variable was how I would feel after surgery and how long it would take me to get back to my normal running routine. The day after surgery I was pretty out of it with a very sore throat, but I felt considerably better as the days went on. My doctor told me that I didn't have any restrictions, but I wanted to be on the safe side and make sure everything was healing properly before I went back to running. I figured I was in no rush (why take an unnecessary risk if I wasn't training for anything). What would be gained by coming back too early? It was better to be safe than sorry, so I told myself even if I felt good enough to run, I was going to wait at least until I saw my doctor a week or so after my surgery and he gave me the go ahead. Luckily, he told me that my incision was healing very nicely and that I was free to start running again as long as I felt up to it. So, that evening (it was a Thursday) I ran on over to the Thursday group run for my first run in 10 days. I was going to take it slow and not push myself unless I was up to it. Luckily, I felt good throughout the run and didn't seem to feel any ill effects of the surgery or the time off. I then went for another run on Saturday, although not a "long run". I would wait until the next week for that.

It has now been three weeks since my surgery and I feel back to normal running wise. I am back to running my regular schedule and weekend long run of 10 miles, in addition to my spinning and weights day. I am signed up for the Healthy Kidney 10K this weekend, which will be my first race since the Run for One Classic. Hopefully, I'll be close to my old self.

I'm trying to keep up the running as long as possible for the time being because I will most likely have another couple week layoff coming at the end of May/beginning of June and I don't want to fall too far behind if I don't have to. I have two scans coming up during mid June in which I have to go off of my Synthroid medication for a few weeks, and one of the possible side effects is sluggishness/fatigue. Therefore, there is a possibility that I won't be up to running for a little while during that time period. This is the reason that I unfortunately had to step down from the Need for Speed Relay coming up on June 7th. I ran it last year and was looking forward to it, but at this point I have no idea how I will be feeling in the days leading up to the race, so I felt it was fair to the team to allow them to get a new member.

If I do need a layoff of a couple weeks, I'm hoping that I'll be able to bounce back as quickly as I did recently. I feel that I have a large enough mileage and fitness base that I don' think it would be too hard to ease back into my usual routine. First things first - the scans need to come back free and clear. Hopefully if that is the case, I will ease myself back into a routine and possibly think about a marathon at the end of the year (maybe).

Run As One Classic (4M) - 4/13/08

I can't believe it, but for the second race in a row I achieved a PR. In addition, I achieved a few "firsts" in this race: 1) I finally cracked the 60% barrier for the AG% (60.4%), 2) I ran my fastest overall pace in a race (7:03), and 3) I ran my fastest individual mile in a race (6:31). This will be a race that I can look back on a while from now and see that a number of things clicked. As we all know, good running times can be streaky so I just need to ride this one as long as I can. My running and exercise regimen seems to be working for me and I need to continue the formula that I've been living by for the past 6 months or so - running 3x times per week including a run of about 10 miles, spinning once per week, and weights once per week. The 5 days of exercise coupled with 2 days of rest seems to be the ideal combination for me thus far. This combination allows me to keep up my fitness and mileage, while not completely wearing me out. If I do a marathon this year, I will need to modify the formula, but it is important that I keep two days of rest. Anything less than that and I feel that I will be too worn out during the week and it makes it much harder for me to recover.

As for the race, there were thousands of people lined up at the start and I figured that the first mile would be very congested. I even ran the race without any music (which is usually not the case). This wasn't on purpose - when I got to baggage, I was chatting it up a bit with BH and AK, and I forgot to put on my MP3 player before we started walking over to the start. By the time I realized this, it was too late to go back. For a race this short, the first mile gains increased importance if you plan to run a fast race. I was shocked that I was able to get out to a 7:31 first mile (I usually get out between 7:45 and 8:00) and then knew that I had a chance for a fast time (not necessarily a PR though). The next 2 miles were at a very fast pace for me (7:04 each one), but I felt surprisingly good. Going into the last mile, I knew that I was ahead of PR pace and ran as hard as I could. I couldn't believe that I PR'd by as much as I did. Woo hoo! Not knowing when the next PR will come, I will enjoy this one for as long as I can.

Mile Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:31
Mile 2 - 7:04
Mile 3 - 7:04
Mile 4 - 6:31
Total Time: - 28:13; pace - 7:03

For the week: Mon - 6.5 miles, Tues - spinning, Weds - off, Thurs - 6 miles, Fri - off, Sat - 10 miles, Sun - 4 miles

Congrats to all of the other Flyers on their great races today. It seemed as if everyone I talked to was very happy with their race times. I guess it was a combination of the very favorable running conditions of around 50 degrees and cloudy skies.

It has been a while...

It has been a while since I have written a post and PR'd in a race. Luckily, I am now accomplishing both. Although I have not written in a couple weeks, I have continued to keep up my weekly regime of about 20-25 miles a week, including a long run of about 10 miles. It seems as though things are paying off. I ran the Scotland 10K yesterday and got my first PR in a race in almost 2 years! I was beginning to think that it may not happen again. I guess I felt "in the zone" and just kept on going. In order to get in my long run for the week, I ran about 2.5 to 3 miles before the race started to get me warmed up and also to add a few miles in. The race started about a minute early (according to my watch) so I got to the starting line of the race just as the gun went off. This wasn't a problem since I figured I'll just squeeze in the middle of the pack. I was able to get in a fast first mile (7:52) but I didn't think at that point that a PR was in store. However, by the time the fifth mile came around, I ran three 7:30 miles in a row and then ran a 7:10 mile for mile 5. At that point I knew that I was on pace for a possible PR. I was feeling good up to that point so once I passed the 5 mile mark, I just gave it all I had. I crossed the line in 46:15, beating my previous best by :36. My previous best 10K was the Joe Kleinerman 10K, all the way back in 2001. My split times for the race were:

Mile 1 - 7:52
Mile 2 - 7:29
Mile 3 - 7:29
Mile 4 - 7:31
Mile 5 - 7:10
Final 1.2 miles - 8:41 (7:14 - mile pace)
Overall time - 46:15, pace - 7:27

This was a great race for me and showed me that I can still continue to get faster if I work hard at it. I was looking forward to the Lehigh Valley Half at the end of April, but unfortunately something just came up and will be unable to run it. I'll just have to sign up for another one soon instead.

Exercise over the past week - Mon - off, Tues - spinning, Weds - 5 miles, Thurs - 6 miles, Fri -off, Sat - off, Sunday - a little more than 9 miles

Colon Cancer Challenge 15K - 3/9/08

Sunday morning was the Colon Cancer Challenge 15K. This is a race that I have done a couple times in the past and is one that I like running. I have been doing my 10 mile runs every weekend for the past couple months but at a slower pace, usually between 8:30 and 8:50. I wanted to use this race to give me a chance to run at a faster, "race" pace and give me a good idea where I was at this early in the year. I was encouraged by my time at the Manhattan Half, but I haven't run a race at a longer distance since then, which was about a month and a half ago.

I was happy with both my overall time and pace. I was looking back at my past times for this race and I came up with a goal time of running under 1:12:00. I ended up running a total time of 1:11:57 for an overall pace of 7:44. I think this bodes well for the training I have been doing so far and gives me a good gauge in creating a goal time when I run the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon in a month and a half. I was a little worried though since my back was hurting me earlier in the week and my hamstrings and glutes were pretty tight and I didn't know how they would react in the cold weather. I got a sports massage on the Friday before the race and it worked pretty well to loosen me up. Although I was a lot looser than earlier in the week, I did experience some glute and lower back stiffness during the race but I made sure to stretch afterwards. The weather was a bit tough during the race. The cold wasn't the problem - it was the wind. I found myself struggling at times to push through the wind on the hills but I guess it is good practice. My pacing was relatively consistent throughout the entire race and I was surprised that I was able to get out of the gate relatively quickly for the first mile and keep it up for the duration. Below are the mile breakouts (it seems as if the mile markers were off for miles 2 and 3)

Mile 1 - 7:59
Mile 2 - 7:11 (this was definitely wrong)
Mile 3 - 8:21 (the mile markers were off)
Mile 4 - 7:43
Mile 5 - 7:41
Mile 6 - 7:48
Mile 7 - 7:35
Mile 8 - 7:49
Last 1.3 miles - 9:48 (7:32 mile pace)

Overall time: 1:11:57 and a pace of 7:44

Running for the week - Monday (6.2 with downtown group), Tuesday (spinning), Wednesday (off), Thursday (6), Friday(weights and sports massage), Saturday off, Sunday (9.3)

In For a Tune Up - 3/7/08

I think that it's a good idea to go in for a sports massage once or twice a year. It's a good way to keep the body loose and address any problem or tight areas - kind of like bringing your car in every 6 months for a checkup or inspection. Although I stretch more than most people, it seems inevitable that my glutes, hamstrings and hip flexors are going to tighten up. Once that happens, the snowball effect occurs - it gets harder and harder to strectch the areas that are troubling me, so I stretch them less and less and then things get to the point that it affects my running. This is exactly what happened recently. My usual problems areas were starting to feel uncomfortable a few weeks ago and I tried to work through them to no avail. Then during the downtown Monday night run this week, my lower back stiffened up (which never happens) and did not get better throughout the rest of the run. I needed to run almost straight up because my back was getting tighter and tighter. Although it got a little better through stretching during the week, I figured it was a good idea to nip it in the bud and get a sports massage which I got today - again at Eastside Massage. I wanted to make sure that it didn't get to the point like last August. I waited much too long to get a massage and my hip flexors and glutes were killing me and it was very uncomfortable to run. Also, if I didn't address my back and glutes soon, I didn't want to jeopardize my half marathon coming up at the end of April

The downtown run - Although I really like running it, I find that my body feels "messed up" for the rest of the week. I'm not sure if this is because I'm used to having Monday as a day off or because of the harder concrete surfaces that we run on the West Side. It could be that when I run on a Monday, it usually comes after a Saturday and Sunday run. Three days in a row might be too much for now. I'm not going to stop going to the downtown run but I think I need to make sure not to run the Sunday before.

Week of 2/25/08

Just the facts:

Monday- off
Tuesday- Spinning
Wednesday- Weights
Thursday- 6 miles
Friday- Off
Saturday- 10 miles down the west side bike trail - total time 1:24:17 for an 8:25 pace - felt very good
Sunday- 4.5 miles on the treadmill

I really like the 10 mile distance. It's a long enough run that doesn't take up the whole day and doesn't wipe you out afterwards.