Back to Memorial Hall

Originally, I was just going to walk to the river and then run. It was quite windy and very chilly though, when I stepped out the door. The forecast was supposedly 54 degrees and felt like 54. No way that was the case though. I quickly went back in the house and got my car keys. I decided I'd drive up to Memorial Hall and run again.

The run was an easy 4 miler. I figured I'd run the 5K course from last week, plus nearly another mile. This time, I wanted to run the full course, including the portion that we cut off during the race. It was great at the start, not nearly as windy.

I felt a little sluggish early on. It has been a long week and now a new mileage high of 57 miles. The first half mile of this run seemed to drag on forever. It got much better as a made it around to the back of the course though. The Japanese House and Horticultural Center are beautiful.

Even though there are some paved running paths, I mostly stuck to the roads. This actually a great area for a short run, because few cars travel the roads around there. The roads do curve a lot, but there isn't much elevation change.

I actually started to shortcut the course again in the same section. Then I realized my mistake and backtracked. I nearly turned at the wrong spot at another location too. I noticed that mistake as well though.

The race flew by so fast last week that I really didn't even notice a lot of the course. I don't remember running past my car early on, but I guess I did. At that point, I was trying to slow down a little because of the killer early pace. I also don't remember running behind Memorial Hall, but obviously we had to. I was able to take in much more of the scenery this time around.

Needless to say, my pace was much slower this time. I cruised to the 5K point around 23 minutes. I then looped around similar to the start. I finally finished up near the car.

The pace was nice and easy and it was great way to end the week. It was a good recovery run that didn't put much stress on my body. My toe was a little sore, I presume from trail running yesterday.

I look forward to tomorrow's total rest day and camping with my dad. I might hike some of the trails around the lake. I'd like to get a feel for their layout. I don't want to overwork my body though. I'm also very ready for my 23 mile long run on the actual marathon course. We'll see how I do. It will be a key to planning out my race strategy.

4 miles - 31:31 (7:53 pace)