Saturday afternoon
9.71 mi / 15.63 km
9.8 mi / 15.77 km total
40 F / 4.5 C
31 F / -.5 C windchill
rain, rain, rain
My chosen route was basically one big square, first heading up my street to a major street out of the neighborhood, then straight north on that into the first-tier suburb Roseville, then turn right heading straight east on County Road B, then turn south on Victoria, a street near a small nature reserve, down to Como Lake, and then turn west on Como Ave after rounding Como Lake's southern shore. Each side of the square is between 2 to 2.5 mi, with another .5 miles or so on the initial run up my street to get out of and get back into my neighborhood. So 10.5 miles total according to Google Maps. The route is also one gradual climb up to the mid point, and then one gradual descent working my way home, but with a few small hills along the way.
It was supposed to clear up by the time it was time for my run, but the drizzle continued throughout most of it. The windchill was just below freezing, and so with the wind and wet surfaces my feet numbed down gradually until about 2-3 miles into the run, when they stabilized. For a while I thought I would have to put on my Moc3 back-ups, as I began to lose feeling inside my outside metatarsal region on my left foot, but that recovered, and so it was mostly my toes and soles that felt cold for the rest of the run.
I started out a bit slow, at 10:30 mm pace, on the gradual incline and while adapting to the frigid conditions, but then once up on the plain of Roseville, my pace dipped down into the 9:15mm to 9:45 range. I felt pretty strong, and didn't feel any need to stop and stretch, and with my foot numbness close to my limit, I didn't really want to stop and risk having the numb plunge any further anyhow.
County Road B passes through a pretty busy shopping area. I could've avoided it by taking a biggish street that parallels it a half mile south, Roselawn, but that street's bike path has about a mile of mild chipseal, and in the cold drizzle I didn't really want to deal with a harsher surface. At the entrance to one of the shopping area's parking lots, one guy cut me off while turning right. I saw him in my peripheral vision, so when he passed in front of me I slammed my hands into his rear passenger window to scare him into thinking he hit me, to make him think twice about pulling the same stunt in the future, when he really might hit someone. Next time I try this route it'll be warmer and/or drier so I'll definitely be taking Roselawn to avoid the shopping area.
Anyway, by the time I got to the midway point, turning down Victoria, I knew I had my 10-miler in the bag. I stopped briefly to check for glass on a painful spot in my right heal, and took advantage of the break to do a quick stretch, but otherwise felt fine. Farther on there's a spot where Victoria turns west briefly before resuming its course south, and just there a few longer puddles, debris, and remaining slush nearly did me in. That kind of distracted me, and so when it came time to resume my southerly course down Victoria, I missed the turn and continued west on Roselawn, which is what Victoria becomes if you continue straight. I didn't realize it until my feet had recovered and I was no longer debating putting on the Moc3s, but by then I had already gone a couple of blocks down Roselawn and was nearly back to the next major street, Lexington, which parallels Victoria.
So I turned left and went south down Lexington, which passes through another busy shopping section. And its sidewalks were especially full of debris for some reason. Once past that area, across Larpenter Avenue and back in St. Paul, I cut west into the Como Park neighborhood, instead of continuing south on to Como Lake, and then found my way to Snelling Ave, the next major North-South road, which borders Como Park and my neighborhood and the Fairgrounds. The light to cross Snelling into the Fairgrounds had just turned red, and that's a long a$$ light, so I ran south down the sidewalk along Snelling, listening to yet more unpleasant traffic zooming by on the wet roads. Saturday shopping traffic was at full force by that time.
Just before the next light to cross Snelling, I was able to cut across a gap in the traffic, and then ran west again, entering the Fairgrounds, where folks where just getting out from the afternoon performance of the Shrine Circus. From there it was an easy run home. My ITB was starting to feel a tinsy strain, so I upped the pace again for the final mile or so, back down into the 9:30-9:45 range. At the end I felt pretty strong, like I could've gone another couple of miles, and was just short of my intended ten-mile distance. My missed turn on Victoria had cut off more than a half mile from my route. I could've run around the block to get me up to an even 10 miles, but who cares? I'll get it next Saturday. I walked the last half block home, enjoying the moment, looking forward to a nice glass of wine after a blustery, wet outing.
The run was a great confidence booster. Except for my brief stop to check for glass in my heel, I was able to run the whole thing continuously without any trouble from my MCL or ITB. Plus I was able to run at least half of it under 10mm pace, finishing with a 10:01 mm pace overall. So I feel like I should be in good stead for the half marathon in August. Just gotta increase my weekly long run by one mile each month: April = 10 mi; May = 11 mi; June = 12 mi; July = 13 mi. I may also follow through on my threat to run the Get in Gear 10K down by the river at the end of this month, now that I know I can run six miles continuously at a decent (for me) pace. I think that's still three weeks away.
Nonetheless, about an hour after I had been home, just sitting down to dinner after playing outside with the kids with my Moc3s on, my soles began screaming at me. It was painful to walk. I noticed two small red spots on my right foot, one on the bottom of my index toe and one on the ball of my foot. I guess I beat my feet up with the rain and the debris more than I had realized, unaware because my feet were mildly numb the whole run. Today they're still pretty painful, but should be OK in time for Tuesday's run, after a full 72 hours of rest.
So, overall, a good week of running. I got in four runs, including a short 8mm-paced run, a nice 9mm tempo run, and a satisfying 10mm LSD run. Total was 22.4 miles / 35 km on the week.