Greg's Running Blog

Saturdays are my long run days as I’m preparing for my 10K in 3 weeks. Today’s long run called for 6 miles. I have been running the same area and same loop for some time but today I have decided to try something different. I wanted to see some different scenery and I went a different route. My usual route is mostly flat with only 160 ft of elevation in 6 miles. But today’s route was a different story. I felt like I was on a roller coaster the whole way.

I knew when I started running it that it would be more hilly than my usual run. I used to be a volunteer firefighter in my community and I used to roam the neighborhoods with lights and sirens on big red trucks so I am pretty familiar with my town and its terrain. But let me tell you, driving around with 4,000 gallons of water and a large diesel engine is vastly different than running on feet tackling the same hills.

My left knee has been hurting a bit since my 5K race and it hasn’t improved too much. I can still run and the pain actually got a lot better towards the end than at the beginning. I think my ligaments just have to build up strength is all. My run started out on the usual path then I took a turn and made a huge loop. That huge loops tarts with a massive descent which converts into a just as big ascent. Then there are several smaller bumps in the road. I was originally planning on doing an in and out route but at the 3 mile mark I decided to keep going on a loop as I was hoping that the main road would be flatter than the neighborhood street that I just used for the first half. Well it was indeed better but not by much. The second 3 miles had 50 ft less ascent than the first 3 miles which I guess means it was indeed less hilly. I guess Texas isn’t as flat as they make it out to be.

I managed to maintain a 10:31 min/mile pace for the run even with the hills where I went as slow as 20:00 min/mile. This was a long run that is supposed to be easy and not at race pace. Overall it was a good run with a total ascent of 361 ft.