Double Digits

I did it!  I was feeling good this morning and have had a run in my mind for the past few weeks.  After my last "long" run of 7.2 when I went down to Greenlake around it once and came back, despite the watery left eye, I thought it would be possible to add a second time around Greenlake. 

As I was jogging up to the lake I decided to stay along the outside ring and then I was going to pop into the middle eventually. However, today is a holiday and it was sunny out which in Seattle means EVERYONE was out in full force today. The double-wide stroller gangs (at least 3 wide and 2 deep), the latte holding weavers (matching North Face jackets and jeans), the high school crew teams (with oversized t-shirts and what appears to be spandex short-shorts), the tight-rope walkers, the Greenlake Speedwalker (complete with black yoga pants, Nike jacket and Nike hat with pony-tail out the back [can be confused with the Bellevue mall mom]), the roller-derby girls (no joke), the "way-too-cool" long boarders, the horse-like dogs with human size poop, the Lance Armstrong full-gear bikers and a bunch of other characters ...needless to say I stayed on the outer ring.

About 100 yards ahead of me I saw another guy going about the pace I wanted to go...so I switched gears and just cruised.  Once I caught up to him (a safe, non-stalker distance) I just paced him. That dude was a machine...in fact he's probably still down there running laps. 

The first one went by pretty easy. By the second lap I was feeling a little tightening on the sides of my quads along that muscle that runs from your knee up the side of your leg connecting to your hip...ooh yeah, I still feel it! But I kept on and before I knew it lap two was over and I was on my way back to Greenwood. I staggered into the house and plopped down to write this. 

The double-digit mark has been a long time coming and really opens the door for more long distance runs. Or at least it's easier to conceive of them. With the half-marathon coming up in May or June (not sure which I'm doing) this is definitely helping with the frame of mind I think I'll need to make it 13.1 miles. In fact, if I add another lap around Greenlake it would be close to 14 miles! 

Today I ran 10.6 miles...here's the link