seventeen

my new favorite number is 17. just for this week, until i run even further next week. it's amazing how at the beginning of this year i was running no more than 4 miles. the longest run up until last week was 13.1 (the 3M half marathon back in '05) miles. now with a little effort i've jumped to 17. for many, this isn't that BIG a deal & for others this amount of miles seem utterly ridiculous.

my game plan right now is still simple. keep pushing it until it doesn't feel good anymore. i've yet to sign up for AT&T & i won't do it until the last minute.

when i met ed at the lake this morning i didn't know what i would be doing. it rained really hard last night & the trail was a mess. however, there was a surge in the number of runners on the trail this morning. both the gazelles & rogue how their groups out there & they were all running long. it was quite motivating. ed said he was in for 7 & it wasn't until we were about done with the 7 mile loop that i told ed i'm going for 17. just 10 more miles & i'd be done.

when we finished the 7th mile i wasn't wiped at all & my breathing/heart-rate were totally under control. my calves were aching pretty bad though. i went riding this thursday with david & i took my road bike. we did 30+ miles (a short version of the dam loop) pretty quick & like two crazies we took on jester for a quick hill run at the end. then yesterday i hit the spin bike at the gym for 40 minutes & ran the treadmill with a steep incline for 20 more minutes. if it weren't for my tired legs i could have easily run another 10.

the first 5 of the last 10 miles were good. when i hit the half way point & started heading back i was hit by that gust of wind that i heard about on NPR yesterday. the temperature must have dropped 10 degrees from the time we first started until this point - was probably 55 degrees out & with the wind it felt like 35.

despite the nasty head wind i felt like i finished strong. i need to go & purchase some long tights as the weather is to inconsistent & often january & february are worse than november & december here in texas. total run time this morning was 2 hours & 25 minutes. i hope to hit 20+ miles next weekend & i'll be sure to give my legs a breather before i do it. now off to runtex with kristin to get some new running gear for the both of us. (using that christmas bonus wisely :))