Outside!

I decided to try to run my five miles outside this morning. It was 65 degrees with 80% humidity so I knew I wouldn't be cold but I started at 5:45 so almost my whole run was in the dark. Running in the dark is not so fun. I think if I am going to keep doing it, I need to get a miner's light for my hat.

Overall, the run was not too bad. I felt a little stiff in the very beginning but improved as I went along. The first four miles are mostly level or uphill which was fine but the last mile is all downhill. I'd been looking forward to the downhill thinking it would give me a break but it turned out to be the most uncomfortable part of the run. I had thought my plantar fasciitis was really improving but turns out it is aggravated by downhill running. I hadn't noticed this in Philadelphia because the course was flat but hills will be impossible to avoid in San Francisco. I better try to coddle my foot as much as possible before the marathon.

It was good be running outside again instead of being cooped up in The Fitness Station. And I enjoyed my audiobook again, although I had to back up more than 80 minutes so that I could understand what was happening. The book, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, is a literary thriller about the search for Dracula and as such may not be the best book to be listening to on dark morning runs but I like it.

After a depressingly slow half-marathon, I was super speedy this morning, running the five miles in 52:40.

Looking ahead to life post-marathon, Braman, Larsson, Nora and I have registered to run the Interlaken Steeple Chase 5K as a family. I've done the run for all of its three years, in 2004 pushing Larsson in the stroller while I was pregnant with Nora and then last year pushing them both in the double stroller. Last year I ran it in 39:28 but this year, after having run that particular course in training many times, I hope to do much better. My fastest time was 37:15 in 2003 which I think shouldn't be too hard to beat. Anyway, it will be fun for all of us to do a race here in our hometown.