Two busted toenails. One seems to have split open….

First time ever covered the full marathon distance. Took 4 hours and 56 minutes. Including bio breaks, water breaks, changing of shirts breaks, catching my breath breaks and simple wondering why the heck am I doing this to myself breaks, the whole run took 5 hours and 35 minutes.

Got caught in sharp rains at the 24th mile. I was glad. It kept me distracted just when I was starting to get tired and made the finishing of the run more fun as I jumped from puddle to puddle.

Now I am ready for my first formal Marathon race. Okay, then. My first formal Marathon race – see you in Marathon!!

Woke up at nearly 4 AM to catch a very early morning flight to DC. By the time I landed, frankly, I was yet to wake up 🙂 It definitely did not help think thru a gnarly business related challenge I was trying to figure out how to navigate. Fortunately, there was time between landing and the first meeting. Changed clothes at the airport and put in a quick 5K at Rock Creek Trail before taking a shower and showing up for the meeting. I was not only awakened, I also knew what to do with the business problem I was dealing with. 
It is amazing how focused your mind becomes once you hit a lonely trail where you are ever aware of a root in the ground that can trip you up or a darting squirrel that can frighten the bejeezus out of you…
 

7 miles took 66 minutes!

The run itself took 3 hours and 39 minutes. But I took quite a few waterbreaks to make sure I don’t overexert and fall sick again!

After missing runs for nearly ten days due to travel and then falling sick, completed three 10K runs in three successive days – 61 mins, 61 mins and today 55 mins. I think I can officially claim that I have shaken off this cold/allergy/fever thingy…

13.1 miles (21K) in the hills. Total ascent of 1350 feet. Now I need all the carbs I can lay my hands on this morning 🙂

After the hill runs, tried to push the leg muscles to take some pounding of speed runs. After a couple of miles of warm up, posted three 100 m dashes at 17 seconds, 16 seconds and 16 seconds each. That is about the time most pro runners would take if they also took a bio break in the middle of the dash 🙂 But for me that was a tough feat.

Then joined the Chalupa crowd for a quick 5K run in 25 minutes.

As always, it is great to see all the Chalupa folks – and especially the kids come out on a Sunday morning for some healthy exercises instead of sleeping in. The kids had a lot of fun after the run in their make shift camp at the back of a car 🙂

Trying to build in elevation in my runs. Dramatic effect on my speed. 5 miles of run in the hills with total elevation gain of 550 feet. My average speed came down to 11 min/mile!!