The weather was perfect- 66 degrees and cloudy with the odd raindrop. I was well-rested after taking Friday as a recovery day. A change of scenery provided extra motivation. I set out at 8:00 am on Saturday morning to face the rolling hills surrounding Chemong and Buckhorn Lakes in the Kawartha Region. After much discussion of various routes with my father (who does not run LOL), I decided to head over the causeway that seperates Chemong and Buckhorn Lakes (pictured) and through the town of Bridgenorth, heading east towards Peterborough. They have recently completed a new walking trail with a crushed stone base. Since our marathon is on a similar surface, I decided to incorporate this trail into my run. Being new, the surface was not yet hard-packed, resulting in a few stones in my shoes, but other than that, it was very enjoyable, albeit a little short. Out and back on this trail only comprised about 3 miles of my total run. A large portion of my distance was on the shoulder of a busy road with a speed limit of 80 km/hr. This was a a bit of a tactical error on my part but these things happen when you are in unfamiliar territory. At least the shoulders were wide and fairly flat. The busyness of this roadway encouraged me to complete the middle portion of my training at a decent pace. In fact, my whole run was at a good pace. My average for the 20 miles was 8:36. To put this in perspective, last week on my 18 mile run, my average pace was 9:49. So I am extremely pleased with 2 extra miles and over 1 minute pace improvement on a hilly route. This run gave me great confidence in hitting my time goal of less than 4 hours at the Towpath Marathon. (in 47 days!)
Next weekend, we are doing one of my favourite races; the Crim Festival of Races in Flint, MI. The 10 mile road race has approximately 5,000 runners. This is a difficult race to PR because of the crowded field but I hope to improve on last year's time of 124:02. According to their website, 50,000 people line the streets for almost the entire route. There are many live bands playing along the route and at the after-party. This year the race is featured as a Michelob Ultra race series event. This promotion could make it even more popular...and parking more difficult :( I have encouraged a few members of our local running club to race this year. Familiar faces always make races more fun!
That's all for now. Till next time, I am still running to feel young.
Jeff: Having run a few 20s myself, I know what a physical (and mental) challenge it is. Way to go! Keep up the good work. Send me a race report.
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