19 Miles with Snowman

Well, that was painful.

Here's the route we took this morning as we embarked on our 3-hour, 19-mile run (the option to embed the map isn't working for some reason, so you'll have click on the link to see it instead). Snowman spent a while working on the route, and it seemed like a good way to run some familiar roads, explore some new terrain and get in some good hills.

After a good night's sleep last night (yes, I'm old and was in bed by 9pm), we headed out from the Bowdoin field house around 10:15am. There was supposed to be a 50% chance of showers, but instead it was nice and overcast early on and as the morning wore on, things just got brighter and warmer. The route took us out over familiar terrain for the first 11 miles, and we enjoyed the quiet roads of Pennellville and Rossmore as we ran along. It was low tide at Maquiot Bay and the wind was coming off the water. As always, a nice view. We hit Pleasant Hill, and turned left out to the junction with Highland Road.

From here, we turned right onto Highland, whereas on previous runs we've always turned left at this road. We were into new territory. It was around this point that things started to really warm up and we were out in the sun. We were also climbing some pretty decent hills. Not a good combination. Ugh. Highland eventually dropped us out onto Rt. 1, which we ran along for a short while before turning onto Grant Road. Another big hill. Man, I was getting tired. My legs were also getting pretty tight. Then onto Hillside, complete with a few more hills, and Greenwood, which may have been worse as it was completely straight and it seemed we were going nowhere fast.

As we neared Church Street, I knew we were close to the end, with 3 or so miles to go. Instead of taking the easy way back into town on McKeen, we turned right on Church and headed up Woodside. Another hill. Snowman took the lead here, as I struggled to keep up with him. Then finally, our second junction with Pleasant Hill and the last 2.5 miles. As we started down the hill near Crystal Spring Farm, it was Snowman's turn to struggle. I figured he would run through it, as I had. But instead, he told me to go on ahead, and in turn I urged him to keep up. I tried to slow the pace so he could stay with me, but he wasn't having any of it. So, I just kept chugging along. I felt badly but knew he wasn't too far behind.

I hit Coffin Street at 2:53:30 (or 9:08 per mile). I was relieved to be done. Cardiovascularly, I felt good throughout. Yes, I was breathing a bit heavy on a few of the final hills, but nothing of much concern. My legs, however, were very stiff, with my old nemesis, my right IT band/calf particularly so. I'll have to work on this. However, despite this, I had managed to keep up what I think was a decent pace to the end and felt pretty strong. I'm not saying it was a perfect long run, but all things considered I'm pretty happy. Of course, that being said, I am hobbling around like an invalid at the moment! Ah, yes, isn't running good for us?!