Another catch-up post - 5/4/12

Nothing like late night running to beat the heat!

Trying out a different route - we ended up down in some industrial districts in the very late evening/night.  Maybe not the best place to be, but we made it through the dark/no sidewalk areas (along the interstate) with little incident. 

From Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, we ran some of Erin's old HS running routes though neighborhoods that I was relatively unfamiliar with.  We originally mapped out a 14 mile run that would do this part - arriving back at the HS, and then go the other direction for a 7 mile loop.  As it was approaching 10 PM when we finished this part, we decided we needed to get home to Ellie and bailed on the run.  Without the Grandparents living so close, these "longer" runs would be next to impossible to pull off.  If you're reading this "Pa-Pa and Ga-Ma", thanks!

This ended up being a pretty chill run.  I was still feeling the affects of my cold, but I got "warmed up" and moving after a while.  We decided on the run that it might be worth our time to balance out our long and slow runs with some shorter, faster ones.  Typically, I've tried to keep the HR consistent - going whatever speed that took to do it, regardless of mileage.  I'm thinking that I'm probably holding myself back a little (or a lot) by doing it.  This is usually not a problem, and I do see the benefit of doing so.  However, I'll be the first to say that, usually our "during the week" short runs are with Ellie.  All bets are off when she's with us.  It's too unpredictable and inconsistent of a run with her to try for any tempo runs, unfortunately.  We usually end up running faster just to minimize time in the stroller with her.  That, and running fast is always a little funky with that thing.

That is our plan going forward though.  Look for some faster runs coming soon.  While we didn't get a super long one in tonight, it was still definitely a nice, cooler (humid) run.

D

Running Total:
May:  12.45
2012:  174.97