Day 99: 10 Miles with Blisters

I ran 10 miles today in 2:06:20. That nets a 12:38 mile, which is 6 seconds slower than I ran my 9 miles last week. I'd targeted an even 2 hours for the effort, so I'm disappointed with my performance. I know, I know... I couldn't run 100 feet 3 months ago; but I'm trying to get better here, not worse.

I started out perfectly equipped - good clothes, good attitude, enough water, Sport Beans, iPod. It was very sunny, but only 22 degrees and gusty. The wind made it hard, and so did running on dirt and rocks for nearly 2 miles of it - my first time on the bridal path. Twice my ankle turned over and adrenaline spiked. Injury prevention is my #1 goal. No matter what. I went slowly after that and stared down at the path. With the wind in my face, it felt like nature was pushing back against me, making sure I didn't take an accomplishment like 10 miles, lightly. My route was lovely, though. I went:

Outer Loop (5.1432 miles) - ran up to entrance of the Reservoir, and went in. Then... Reservoir x 2 (3.14 miles) - and then... Bridal Path (1.66 miles) - and then fnished the Outer Loop for a perfect 10 miles.

I never wheezed today, but probably because by the time I hit the last two miles I was walking more than I wanted to. Bad blisters. My legs were OK to go, but my feet felt like they were on fire, getting infected, and every time I touched down I flashed to memories of people who have run the Marathon telling me how bad their blisters were... and that you just have to run through it. Run through it!? I'm sure Marathon blisters are a lot worse than 10 Mile blisters! I'd better figure out what I'm going to say to myself when that happens because I'm not sure I could take it any worse than it felt today.

My sweat-drenched clothes were bad protection from the wind when I walked back to my apartment. In three blocks, my body temperature felt like it dropped to match the air, down to 19 degrees according to the clock outside the Park. I went home, did a shot of cold protein drink, peeled my wet clothes off, and then soaked in a hot tub - adding more hot water to the surface every few minutes as my ice cube of a body cooled it off. For dinner I'd thought I'd order something special from Zen Palate to celebrate, but I couldn't wait for a delivery, so I just had tuna from a can and the rest of my homemade butternut squash chowder. Pretty glamorous. I can't wait for spring.