I ran 12 miles today on the long run. I stuck with a small group (Dan, Larry, Bob, Jennifer, and sometime George) and didn’t talk much since I didn’t know them very well, and I was trying to keep up. It was over seventy degress at the start and I was feeling “slow” because I have a sore left ankle. I’m beginning to think it’s tendonitis. I have to be very careful not to push it too much or it will flair up. This issue began in January on a long run and has been coming and going over the past few months. Yet as I warm up I can ignore it, and then it returns when I’m done.
Somewhere around mile 9 heading down Duval and toward University of Texas and downtown Austin on the current Austin Marathon course I had to pick up the pace. Prior to that I kept saying to myself that there was no way I could do that, but when the time came I sped up and it felt great. I mean it really felt good. I wasn’t huffing and puffing. It just felt smooth, and I got emotional shivers as I did the next mile and a half. It was a great moment. One that makes me feel that running is very special to me – making all this strenuous execise worthwhile. Other runners would understand this kind of moment. It was sweet.
Here is my heart rate graph. I did pretty well, but in general it’s still too high.
