This morning's run was 5.1 miles at a pace of about 9 minutes, 30 seconds per mile. The run was in downtown Indianapolis, around the new Lucas Oil Stadium (a huge new dome), Conseco Fieldhouse (where the Indianapolis Pacers play) and the various memorials in downtown Indy. The weather was breezy, with the temperature in the upper 60s, so it was a nice way to start the day.
My legs feel much better today. Yesterday's run was like knocking the rust off. My legs burned from the first mile and it was tough to find any rhythm while running. Despite my best efforts to find a song on the iPod that might help, there just was not much flow to yesterday's run. This morning felt good from the beginning. I started slowly. My body was ready to run (even though I started at what is 5 a.m. Central time). The weather was nice. Since traffic was light early in the morning, I was able to move steadily along, rather than the usual starting and stopping that occurs while running in a downtown area.
As mentioned yesterday, these runs are really about recovery from last week's marathon. Based on my experience, full recovery takes about four weeks, so there is no way I will fully recover by the time of Saturday's marathon. The walking and running is intended to eliminate the soreness in my legs, start the healing process within my muscles, and generate some mental benefit by feeling that my legs are ready to run. During this recovery time, my diet includes more salmon and less red meat than typical. Salmon seems to help me recover. I have absolutely no scientific data to prove that it helps, but my runs after eating salmon always seem better for some reason.
Yesterday's email provided plenty of information on the difficulty associated with the Whiskey Row Marathon. In addition to checking the race website, I regularly use marathonguide.com as an information resource (www.marathonguide.com). This site includes a race calendar, access to race websites, searchable race results and a forum for runners to post comments about each race. From reading this website, I have been able to confirm that people do successfully complete the run. Here are a few comments from marathonguide.com:
- I had done my homework, so knew exactly what to expect from this course. It did not disappoint! It is a wonderful, small-town, somewhat primitive race.
- This is not your ordinary marathon. Elevation and hills from start to finish. Beautiful scenery and blue skies. Very peaceful and miles away from all the trappings of urban races.
- If you love pine trees, no traffic, hills, and great views, you will love this race. To finish this race is truly a PR.
- Personally I enjoyed the race for it's scenic rewards. If you are more of a social runner like myself, consider bringing a camera, because the course is beautiful. The vistas afforded at the top of the mountain, the granite boulders and the Prescott National Forest are a sight to behold.
And this little note is my personal favorite:
- Be aware of snakes! In 2000 a group of us were greeted by a rattlesnake crossing the road at the halfway mark (turn around point.)
I could have done without knowing that piece of information.
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