One Last Long Run

The last long run I'm referring to is my final 20 mile run before Columbus. And it so happened to have occurred on the day after the Akron Half. That's right, 15 miles on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday! It wasn't until about yesterday that I realized I took care of my birthday run split between the two days last weekend.

After talking about a Sunday long run at the Legends get together, Ladd decided to join me. It would be his final long run going into this weekend's 24 Hour Run at Edgewater. I was originally thinking of running trails in Hinckley, but chose the Towpath instead for it's combination of flatness and crushed surface.

We were able to start around 8:00 in the morning when it was not only cool but incredibly humid from the rain we had Saturday and overnight. In fact the humidity was near 100%, making breathing a little tough. It also caused me to start sweating buckets eventually. Fortunately I came equipped with the maximum amount of fluids I could carry.

We had a nice relaxing run, seeing various wildlife including a Great Blue Heron and a deer that scared the crap out of us because we didn't see her until she was right next to us. We also met up and ran with a fellow named Matt from Solon who was also doing his final long run in preparation for Columbus. He started from a different parking lot so we parted ways when it was time for us to turn around at 10 miles. Running from Peninsula, we made it all the way to Pleasant Valley Road before we hit our turnaround point.

I felt pretty good. My knee wasn't giving me any problems at all and I wasn't experiencing any fatigue from the hard 10 miles the day before. I probably should have taken another sports drink concoction to try out, but I'll do that tonight at the track. It's cold and windy and sometimes rainy. Not my favorite weather to do speed work in, but we run in what we get.