Have you ever sat in a jacuzzi in the rain? Well that the mental image I was trying to sell to myself as I sat in an ice bath from the waist down with a sweatshirt on, holding hot tea in my hands after completing my first ever 11-mile run!
I hadn't seriously run for a week, so I was a little worried. The past week had been busy with work, self-dubbed pseudo-crossing training (aka staging), and running didn't get squeezed into the schedule. So the mere thought of running 27% longer distance than the last longest run I had completed was daunting. I did make sure to get plenty of rest, hydrated well and woke up an hour early (ahem, 6am and I am not a morning person) before the run to eat oatmeal and drink plenty of fluids so that I was properly prepared for the run.
For the first time, our group run had staggered start times. 7am for the 13+ min/mile, 7:15am for the 12+ min/mi, 7:30 for 11+ and so on. I played conservative and started with the 7:15am group.
The route: We started at Sports Basement Presidio and headed away from the GG Bridge towards past the Maritime Museum, the smell of fresh bread baking at Boudin and turned around at fisherman's wharf back past SB. Mentally this was the hardest part as it felt like this should be the end of the run since we were running back to where we started, but we were really only about 1/2 way through. We continued on towards the Bridge, turned at the road to go up the hill, eventually landed on the Bay Area Ridge Trail, went under the Bridge, down the stairs, back up to Fort Point then turned around for the final leg back to SB.
Overall the hills were challenging and I'm discovering I definitely like running on the gravel paths more than the asphalt. My total time was 2 hours and 10 minutes for an average of 11:50/mile.
Since I braved the ice bath, I was hoping to avoid major muscle soreness. I don't know how much it truly helped, but I can say that my quads aren't sore, but my calves sure are dammit.
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