Sunday, February 24, 2008 will go down in the history of Gabe as the day I ran my first-ever 10-mile run — my longest run ever (so far). I finished it with a smile on my face, and I haven’t yet passed out, though I’m still a bit in disbelief.
The official distance was 10.02 miles, which I ran in 1 hour, 22 minutes, and 12 seconds — a pace of 8:11 per mile. The conditions today were perfect for a long run: 34 degrees, sunny, and only a slight wind from the west.
It’s been one hell of a week for me:
- Ran my previous distance record of 9 miles 8 days ago
- Donated blood 4 days ago
- Clocked in my record weekly mileage: 25.147 miles since Monday
- Skied a full day yesterday
- Ran my first 10-mile run today
I’ve read — and saw in the most excellent and inspiring documentary Spirit of the Marathon Thursday night — that it’s important to hydrate every 20 minutes when doing a long run. I doubled that hydration rule, first doing a 5-mile loop around town and back to my house in about 40 minutes to refuel with water and half a Clif bar, then clocking in another 5 miles with only a couple minutes of downtime in between.
So there you go. That’s about all I have to say about that.
Oh yeah, and it’s for a good cause, of course — big thanks to everyone who’s donated so far!
