long run social hour

That 12 was easy, LaSalle to Fullerton to the lake front to Roosevelt. It's warmer but not so warm that there's too much bike traffic on the path. In fact, I only saw 8 bikers on the path. 1 was the "Hi Guy" (who I saw out there last week as well), one was a 2CC jersey on a FSR, 1 was teammate Soupy in his old XXX kit catching some miles and lamenting that the team ride had left by the time he got to the meetup, and then the team ride- 5 guys covered in salt. Molly barked uncontrollably when the guys stopped to say hi so we didn't chat long. Long runs are supposed to be 30-90 sec slower than race pace and today I came in 29 sec slower than race pace. Shazam, I think I can do this!

In other news... registration for the Chicago Marathon opens tomorrow. With the predicted price tag at $125, I'm definitely not registering. I'll save the money for... maybe Big Sur next year? That's worth its $100+ price tag.

rewards.

today's one of those days where when you make the effort, you get something back.

ben got up at 6am today to ride trail with Mike, so Molly was up anyway. I decided to run 12 (though the plan says 8) and just get up and go. i wanted to run out to Northerly Island and figured we were better off doing it when traffic is low, since Molly is such a vicious killer, and all.

anyway, I was talking about rewards. like the views from the little hill on the south end of Northerly Island, or from the 18th street Metra overpass, or from the path northbound at the planetarium. and like taking a break at the deserted beach by the planetarium and watching Molly sprint into the water (and drink half her weight of it.) or like finding a little riverfront trail you never knew existed. it was just a good day.

i said i would go slow and i did. counting the beach stop, a 11:34 average. isn't it funny that my idea of slow was my marathon pace just a month and a half ago? rewarding. run more and you get faster, it just happens. pays ya back.