I was aiming for 16 miles today, and planned to get moving as close to 5:30 as possible.
Instead, I intentionally disabled my 5:30 alarm at 5:15 and then woke up just before my 6:30 alarm. I ate one of those Little Debbie Brownie things for pre-run fuel. Awful nutrition, I know, but I didn’t have any gels, so this brownie-like substance was going to burn off quickly.
I sat in the dark quietly feigning hamstring stretches, but I was really trying to buy time to wake up. Ever since my injury and subsequent backing off of double run days, I’ve struggled to wake up in the morning. I strangely miss the exhaustion.
On my way out, I did my usual run from Fairground Rd southbound on Bardstown Rd for a 3.4 mile segment that I double-back on for every run over 15 miles. Every once in a while, I come out on to Seatonville Rd and follow it over I-265 and out Broad Run until there is no longer enough shoulder width for safety.
Today, I decided to head down that path at about 2 miles into my run. The problem with improvising is that the end of the run WILL be full of surprises. This time, I passed up Broad Run and continued on Seatonville until Billtown Rd, intent on making a single loop without any scenery repeats.
I’ve seen a couple runners on Billtown Rd in areas with a decent shoulder, but cars go 60 mph down this 2-lane road with a soft or non-existent shoulder. They’re crazy.
Today, I was one of the crazy ones. I found that there are 1/4 mile stretches where thick weeds consume the shoulder and pose a huge tripping risk. I was also more disturbed by two dead animals than usual. This was probably a once in a lifetime adventure, but I feel I empathize with cyclists much more now.
I also managed to run through the Gaslight Festival booths which were set up and just opening up at 8:30 am. Watterson Trail and Taylorsville Road in this area are generally not runnable roads, but have sidewalks in exchange. Due to the booths, I found that I had to run down the middle of the roads. Nothing all that unusual for me, except for the fact that this was probably the first time I had ever barreled down the middle of a road and not been in a race.
Since I had made most of my loop thus far on main roads, I committed myself to following as much of the main roads as I usually use for the rest of the loop, instead of cutting across neighborhood roads. This added about 2 miles to my course today. While I would have been short without doubling back somewhere along the way, I ran out of steam past 15.5 miles, do to fuel and general lack of training recently.
Results: 17.66 miles in 2:53:56 [ 9:51 / mile ]
