Running in Circles

Literally! I was running in circles yesterday at the Rec Center. Weather.com was showing Medina at -5° F and I made the decision that THAT was too cold! I needed 16 miles, so the treadmill was out. What was left? The 1/10th mile indoor track at the Rec. It wasn't so bad, really. I charged my iPod so I had some tunes. The miles actually pass pretty quickly up there if you're not paying close attention. The worst part was all the people! Lots of traffic. Things got gummed up at times. The worst offenders where the people who thought it was OK to stay two and three abreast so they could talk. Hey, Einsteins, when the track is busy, it's time to zip your conversations and go single file!

Anyway, 16 miles in the outside lane on that track is 160 laps. I've already been asked how I keep track of the laps. I worked out a simple system that works well for me. I count on my fingers! As I finish each lap, I move another finger under my thumb. When the right hand is done at five, I switch to my left hand. When ten laps are complete, I take a split on my watch and start over.

I averaged sub 8 minute miles, which I wasn't expecting. Mile splits were: 8:07 / 8:11 / 8:12 / 8:09 / 8:01 / 8:00 / 7:57 / 7:54 / 7:45 / 7:45 / 7:53 / 7:56 / 8:00 / 7:51 / 7:43 / and 7:38. That last mile was supposed to be a cool down, but it doesn't look like it turned out that way. Oh, well, back outside today. It's 10°!