Medium run: 4.1 miles, 50:30, AHR 154, RPE 3-8; splits 10:02, 14:02, 13:24, 10:20.

I LOVE the Forerunner! I am SO GLAD I got it now; it's going to be incredibly helpful--I had no idea how much. It tracks my pace constantly, a very useful piece of information I haven't had before, on top of the wonderful distance measurement, and now I see it can do elevation and grade too! Wow.

Already tonight I learned that without much effort, when there's little grade, I'm doing around 10 minute miles; but on the uphills it's more like 13 or 14 mn, which is not made up for on downhills (maybe 9 mn there). So it doesn't all even out, as I thought it did; the fact that every run I do has significant hills is part of why I seem to be so very slow! Which does make me wonder why I didn't do better in the Chris Thater 5K, which was pretty flat. However, I did have trouble pacing myself that day (started too slow), it was really hot and humid, and I do find it more difficult to run on the flat (psychologically and physically too, although I think ChiRunning principles are really helping with that).

This run (up the "mountain" opposite our house, down to the end of a state game land trail & back) has two very-very-very steep hills (I'm interested in seeing the grade next time). Plus the trail is not mowed yet, so I was running on a narrow trail left by one tire of a truck through waist-high grass, which must have slowed me down too. I left a little late--8:30pm--so it was quite dark by the time I got back. Lovely sunset colors in the sky, and a crescent moon. (which makes me think of my favorite mnemonic:

O moon, how thou deceivest me!
Thou art not crescent when a C
Nor yet decreasing when a D.

Yes, it was crescent.) Lots of dogbane on the trail. I startled a groundhog--he startled me too!--who made quite a commotion getting himself up and running away. He must have been napping right near the trail, which hardly ever gets much traffic, let alone foot traffic.

On the way back up the long, long hill, a minivan pulled over. The driver, a nice woman accompanied by at least one teenage girl, said that "the girls" had thought I was bleeding, so she turned around to see if I was OK! Very sweet of them, but I can't imagine why they would have thought that. I wasn't wearing any red, but it was dusk. Unless the Forerunner, which I wore up near my elbow, looked strange? Anyway, they were nice, and I was pleased to see that I wasn't gasping for breath as I talked to them. I guess it doesn't say much about my running form for people to think I'm injured!
- posted by Hilary @ 10:50 PM