Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Sweet Chinooks!

The winds of change are blowing and with it comes some nice warm temperatures. Today we had a chinook and the temperatures went up to +7 C. So no excuses at all, I have to run outside! It has been at least a week or so since I ran outdoors so I was looking forward to this.
Didn't require too much clothes, a tee shirt, tights, and my light running jacket and that was pretty much it (and shoes of course!). As I was dressing I was thinking of what I was going to do, and it was not until I hit the road that I decided on a tempo run.
The roads were a little sloppy but there was minimal traffic and I could easily get to the good patches. I decided I would run the road towards the hamlet of Brule. There was a slight breeze from the northwest and it was partly sunny. The weather report says it is partly cloudy, but the other part must be sun, so I go with the partly sunny perspective. Similar to the half full, half empty glass discussion. But I digress, bottom line is it was a great day for a run.
I felt pretty light without all the winter layers and I breezed through the first mile in 6:48. It is one of those days when I have pretty good focus. My stride is smooth and breathing quiet. Mile 2 has a fairly good climb but I run it well, 7:11. Once you reach the top of the hill there is a great view of Brule Mountain and a relatively long straight stretch that passes a couple of horse pastures. There are a few rolling hills, but nothing of any consequence and I settle back into my previous pace of 6:45. This is almost too easy! Miles 4 through 7 continue along at a similar pace, 6:41, 6:44, 6:38, and going up a bit of a hill 6:58. Mile 8 is the downhill counterpart to mile 2 and I slide down that in 6:29. One mile to go and I still feel pretty good, however this route finishes with an uphill. Still manage to keep sub-7 and get through it in 6:55.
All in all a pretty solid tempo effort, 9.03 miles in 1:01:28. A good one to finish off with before holidays!
Have a great day!

1 comment:

Love2Run said...

Hope you're having a good holiday in sunny Florida. It's cold up here in Canada!