My boss at CVCA is Jim, and he is a long-distance runner nut too. We decided this year to run the Akron half-marathon again (late September), and then have an eye out for a late-October marathon to maybe run. I have been trying to ramp up my miles, but have had very little success of late. Because school is starting up again, I needed to switch my running from early morning to afternoon, and it has been hot. Last week, I ran 45 minutes (about 5-6 miles), 30 minutes (about 4-5 miles), 30 minutes, and 23 minutes (3 miles). I was supposed to run 12 miles at least once this week, if not twice.

So, I approached Jim about running this morning, early. He agreed, but said he wanted to go 17 miles. We decided to take separate cars down to the towpath to run – that way I could leave after 12 miles if I wanted to, while Jim could run on.

This morning was a perfect morning for running (cool and dry). We met up a little after 7:00, and started off. We both felt good. My legs started to feel things around 40 minutes, but not too badly, so we continued on. I made up my mind, based on how I was feeling (good), that I was going to run at least 2 hours. Once that happened, we only had 2 miles to go to get to 17 miles, so I kept going with Jim even though my legs were really tired (I was only supposed to go 12 miles by my home-grown training schedule).

The results were encouraging: we made it. We ran 17 miles in 2:17, which is just (barely) under 8-minute miles. Our goal for Akron is about 7-minute miles, but that is only 13 miles, and is still a month away, so I think the run was a good one this morning. Now I’m going to take my weary legs and go nap!