Welcome Back Me ... And Summer

Man, I love Summer!  And what a great Summer day it was on Saturday in Kansas City.  Not only did my Kansas City Royals win again to maintain the best record in the American League, but it was also a great day with family ... and running!

Savannah and her dad, Nate, at our neighborhood pool on a perfect Summer Saturday

Ryder showing off his KC Royals Lorenzo Cain shirt
he got at his 5th birthday party

Unexpectedly, Madison, Nate, and sweet Savannah stopped by in the morning to take the little angel for a dip in the pool.  That baby loved the water ... and looked sooooo cool in her little sunglasses, ha!

In the afternoon, we headed over to Independence, MO, to Gage and Sarah's house for Ryder's 5th birthday party. The little guy is getting so big, and every birthday makes us wonder more and more, just where the time goes.  (We also spent time with baby Rawlee, of course, but I didn't get any pics of him).

But since this is a running blog, here's a little about my Saturday long run ... it went GREAT!!!  I love Summer running, but it's just been so rainy in the Midwest this year, that it seems Summer's not yet truly arrived.  So I welcomed a "real" June Summer day of nothing but sunshine, and 80 degrees & 80% humidity for my morning run.  The conditions made the workout a bit of a test, but I got through it with flying colors, for my first really good run in quite some time.

I had 16 miles on the docket, and I wanted to average a sub 7:30 pace for most of them.  But about a mile into the run, I honestly questioned if I would be able to run the whole thing.  It was sweltering, and my legs were dead from a tough workout on Friday morning, and mowing the yard the night before.  So I ran about 1.5 miles of slow pace and stretching before really pressing the pace over the next 14.

I ran the first mile at a comfortable 7:30, but then ramped it up to around 7:15, and was able to hold a fairly consistent pace from there.  Any incline seemed much tougher than normal at the faster paces, especially since it was so warm, so I slowed my speed a little on the hills to conserve some energy.  But over a 14 miles stretch I averaged at a 7:23 pace for my first really solid run in a while.  Plus, more than anything, running in the warm sunshine as opposed to fog and rain, was just really really soothing, and made the workout enjoyable.

It took quite a bit longer to recover after the run the normal.  I lost quite a bit of fluids and burned a lot of calories in the heat, but other than that I felt great.  It was just really good to go out and push the pace for an extended length of time.  Granted, a 7:23 pace in the Fall over 14 miles will be nothing to crow about, but considering the conditions, and the fact that I'm just now getting back into shape, I'll take it.  It was definitely a step in the right direction and I feel like my running is getting back to where I want it.  Hope you had a great weekend too!
... Be Great Today!