A run by the lake

I did an outdoor run today. It was roughly four miles, but I'll need to hook up with walkjogrun.net to be sure. I've done the route out before which I know is two miles, but I did something different on the way back.

In any case, I did get to run by the lake. You know, there's a difference between running with a large pack of people in an organized race where they have the streets blocked off for you and running on your own with traffic flowing freely a couple feet away. Cars are heavy, even the small ones. In those big groups I have enough freedom to look around and take in the sights, at least in the beginning of the run before I'm just struggling to make it all the way through. When I'm not in an organized race I've got to keep an eye out for hazards, hope a guy on a bike doesn't run me over from behind, hope a car doesn't run me over from any direction, and pay attention to street signs. I don't get as much sight-seeing that way.

I saw six or seven other runners coming from where I was going. I don't know if there were any more ahead of me, but I really felt like I was part of something.

I think I was a bit slower than usual today. I looked at my watch a couple of minutes after starting, and I ended about 43 minutes after that. So, I'm guessing that I was running at 5.7 mph or so. I like running on a path I'm somewhat familiar with. After you've done it the first time, you have a pretty good idea of where you're going and how much farther until you're done. By the time I got home I was sweating ridiculously, but I had fun doing it.

I wonder if there's some advantage in running in a hilly place like Seattle. Runs from my apartment, at least as I've done them so far, start going uphill. Sure, it starts going down fairly quick, but that's still a hell of a way to start. Of course, my last mile to home is uphill too. So... yeah. I'm getting some hill work. I can't wait to try my five mile route. I'll go down to Elliot Bay and then have to come back up a lot of hills to get home. We'll see how that goes whenever I get to that one.

Tomorrow is an off day. I can just lay back and relax. I'll need the rest. My long run is on Saturday and it's a six mile jaunt, which is actually farther than I've run before, although not by much. I think we're going to Green Lake, which is supposed to have a nice path around it. I'll need to figure out how many times I'll have to circle it before I get there. That requires a degree of advanced planning that I'm not always good at.