22 Miles - 17 minutes faster!

I'm continuing with my crazy-assed plan of running 22 miles every Sunday for a while to see what will happen (any guesses as to what will happen?  It starts with "I" and ends with "njury").  I got up at 4:45 am so I could get my run done before Daniel and Sònia where up and around.  Hmmm, one of the signs of addiction is hiding the behavior-- maybe I'll start hiding my long runs in toilet tanks and behind books in the bookshelf...

Anyway, Daylight Savings Time is over so I kind of got up at 5:45 am my time, so it wasn't as horrible.  If you're finding that you're not on time for anything today, you might need to adjust your watch!

The trail was silent, no one on it at first.  Last week I was dodging bikers and other runners the whole way, today I was alone for long stretches.  I found it very easy to stay concentrated on my environment, being in the moment.  I found that this got progressively harder to maintain as I got more tired.  But I was pleased with how easily I got it back.  At the very beginning of the Capital Crescent Trail I saw an animal moving around by the trail ahead in the darkness.  I tried to figure out what it was and was pretty much right on top of it when I realized it was a young deer.  The deer just looked at me.  I just did my "Hi Deer, you stay over there and I'll stay over here and this is going to turn out just fine" bit.  It never really moved away.

I was cooking today.  Last week I finished this route in 3:31 and today I finished in just 3:13-- 17 minutes faster!  Part of this is that I know the trail better and missed one false turn (though I still made a different wrong turn).  Part of it is that I know I can do this distance and I was confident that I could press the pedal a little more.  But I have to think that part of the improvement was simply that I have improved: I'm actually a little faster.  Fast enough that I was running 8:59 miles the whole 22 miles.  A few months back I could only sustain 10:00 miles for about 12 miles.  I am feeling smug.

Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2359605

As far as National Novel Writing Month, I squeaked out 366 words yesterday-- not 1,667.  Sigh.  Being a dad cuts into this kind of thing.  But I have a story!  It's gonna have it all-- runnin' and meditatin' and goin' to them meetins' (I've been watching that palurda Palin and now my "g's" don't work)  And I've made a decision-- I'm going to have to give up my reading club coordination duties for the month.  Basically that will make the time necessary to get this thing finished off.  I had a blast doing this last year, and I am looking forward to getting my word count going this afternoon when I get a little time alone-- as long as I don't fall asleep from my run as soon as I'm by myself.