The group ran the Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 9/12 but since Bo and I are running the Philly half next week I decided to volunteer for that event instead and we ran our last long run on Saturday. It was supposed to be about 10 miles so we found the perfect loop, Rockville's Millennium "Trail." There is no actual trail involved, it's a 10.6 mile loop around the city on asphalt and concrete sidewalks. It's marked, though, at half-mile increments with plaques embedded into the sidewalk so it's pretty easy to follow. If you can find the starting point...
We figured the best place to start, and easiest to park at, would be Mile 0. Got there, parked... got confused. It was before 6AM so completely dark and we weren't entirely sure where the trail started. We headed out one way, then wound through the neighborhood trying to stay on track. About a mile and a half later we found Mile 0, so immediately out 10.6 mile run would turn out to be closer to 12.
The reviews said there were no hills of note, nothing too challenging. I would like to take this time to publicly disagree with both of these statements as there were some climbs that left us huffing and puffing. I guess it is mostly flat but there were enough hills for me, thanks. On a downhill around mile 5 something horrible happened to my right knee that made steep declines absolute torture, we were so far in that turning around or continuing were about the same distance so we just kept going. Running up, on flat road or on moderate downhill slopes was fine but I had to walk all of the stepper downhills and I'm pretty sure I cried at one point. It's been fine since, stiff when I get up after sitting or wake up in the morning but fine going up and down stairs and such. I have a new pair of CW-X long tights coming today and am picking up some more KT Tape which I've been using for my ankle - hopefully either or both of those will help.
Even with the walks downhill, which were the only walks we took, we averaged a 12:13 pace which isn't too shabby. By the end I was just kind of miserable, something about heading out planning for 10.6 and reaching that mark and knowing you still had over a mile to go kind of messed and looking back I should have taken in more fuel. I had one gel and not nearly as much Gatorade as I thought I drank. We started fast, too fast, so out last miles were a bit slower but all things considered we had a really good run. We're both in the 2:30 finishing wave for the Philly half, given Saturday's run I think I might actually be able to hit that (especially since there are no steep hills). I'm sure Bo will crush it, he wants to leave it all out on the race course whereas I need to save some energy for the last six weeks of marathon training. I still can't believe our first half is less than a week away, I'm so glad Bo will be doing it with me!
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