I woke up at 5:50 am for the morning run with H.R. I have a psychological impediment to getting up at 5:45, even though it takes me a little more than 10 minutes to get ready for a run. It's going to be 15 minutes when it's winter. H.R. and I took Como Avenue east for a mile and then went through the neighborhood streets that are immediately west of the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota. I wore shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt, and felt just right. We made our way to the campus and did a loop on campus before heading back to Como Avenue and home. I think we were somewhere around four miles, although it could be a touch less than that. I'm going to call it 3.75 since we ran it in 35:45 or so. Each journal entry I take makes clear to me that a Forerunner is in my future, because I don't enjoy writing estimates in for mileage. At the same time, can I really justify it? Is it going to make a material improvement to my training, given that I have very simple training goals right now? Tough call. The technophile and materialist in me will eventually win out, I am sure. I ran this morning knowing full well I had agreed to run in the afternoon with a friend from school. He ran in college and has been faster than me. I like the idea of training with a variety of people, some gazelles and others turtles. I haven't ever been a competitive runner and so I don't have that natural competitiveness about pace. But I do feel motivated by not wanting to slow people down or looking foolish, so a little faster pace than I usually do seems to be helpful. But it's probably unhealthy to run with fast people every day. When we stepped outside of the school to start the run, it was 80 degrees and sunny. We ran the first mile in about 9 minutes, I think. The next couple came in at about 8:30 each and the next couple were 7:30 each or so. We ran about 6 miles and then stopped to try and get water at the building that houses the crew team's gear. The crew team was out on the Mississippi, coach riding in a boat along side, talking to them through a megaphone. I bet that gets old. I sometimes felt strong, other times exhausted. The doors to the building were locked, but we found two drinking fountains along the side of another building and started running again. I made the last mile with not too much left in the tank, but kept pace with the two guys. We made the 7 mile run in around an hour, maybe a little less. That's faster than I usually go. I can count on one hand the number of times I've run twice in one day, so this is uncharted territory. Anyone reading this who does it regularly, I'd love to know any insider tips for staying fresh through both. Two last thoughts: first, I need to sleep more (I'm tired and fairly irritable); second...I can't remember what the second one. Refer to the first.
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