Mail run

So we've all heard the unofficial motto, or similar versions of it anyway, of the United States Postal Service, which begins: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night..."

Well, it was hard not to think about that old saying while slogging through an 18-mile run this morning with my running buddy, Kev. When we started, it was sunny and gorgeous out, considering it's mid November. As we got deeper into the run, we fought strong winds, cold rain and the first snow flurries of the season.

Making matters worse, this was one of those runs where I wished every single step I took would've been my last. I was just not feeling it today. I wasn't sore or battling an injury -- I just did not feel like being out there running. But, despite all these factors, we pushed through and completed the 18 grueling miles.

We did the run in 2:32:12, or roughly 8:27 per mile. That's including a two-mile warmup (8:46/8:57 splits) and a 5K cooldown (8:51/8:56/8:49). In between those two periods, we averaged 8:18 per mile for the 13 in the middle. Considering the elements we were dealing with, I can live with that pace.

It's the second time this week I had a run where I really just didn't want to be doing it. The other was a tempo run on Thursday. For that 8-mile run, I did a one-mile warmup and cooldown with six-mile splits in the middle of 7:56/7:55/7:55/7:48/7:48/7:28. I was really happy with the time on that run, which are closer to what I hope my half-marathon on Dec. 7 resembles.

Today, it was a good thing I had Kevin with me, and I made sure to tell him so. Had I been by myself, I probably would've worked in a few more breaks or walked some. With him running a few strides ahead of me the whole way, I did my best to suck it up and push through. He was probably getting sick of my whining though!

Overall, it was a strong week for me. I had the 16-miler last Sunday during which I suffered the right hamstring issue. This never came up this time around and was no longer an issue by Thursday night, when I did my tempo run. This week I logged 45 miles, establishing yet another personal high. Seems to be a weekly trend these days.

On Tuesday, I did a nine-mile run along the Don Valley path, which I blogged about in the last post. On Friday, I was down for another nine-mile easy run and this time I did it along the Toronto lakefront. I was taking it nice and easy (8:32 pace), and I felt good, so I actually stretched it into a 10-mile run, last mile clocking in at 7:41.

My mileage this week brings me to 1,161 miles over the past 389 days. That's an average of 2.92 miles a day -- this includes all my days off, mind you -- over that period. So I'm almost back up to a 5K a day for more than the last year. The distance? Well that's almost exactly how far it is between Denver, Colorado, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Yeah, I looked it up.

This coming week, barring some kind of setback, I'll log 46 miles with a 20-mile long run lined up for Sunday. That will move me over 1,200 miles and will mark the quickest I've run 100 miles since I've started keeping track. I will have breezed through the century mark in nine runs, or more than 11 miles per run.

Stay tuned for more...