The Long Run

Probably the single most important run of the week is the long run.

Thanks to a snowy day that socked in a different part of town, I had the day off with perfect weather. I took advantage of the weather (and the spare time) and ran 6 miles for the first time in a long time. I have a Garmin Forerunner 301 which is super-handy, and--including a pair of stoplight rests--I ran those six miles at an average pace of 9:28 according to its calculations.

This was one of those runs where you just feel great the whole time. I was going easy, but for a long time. I listened to a motivating speech by UT-Austin's distance coach Jason Vigilante for most of the run, and it kept me pumped up but not so much that I blew my workout by speeding up.

While I'm a little disappointed that nearly an hour was only 6 miles, I still ran for nearly an hour and could easily have done more. Soon enough, I'll be back to a long run of 11 or 12 miles in 90 minutes.