Successful 11 Mile Run! Bring on the 13.1!

Last weekend, I posted that I hadn't ran in a week due to some ankle pain. I was hoping to run a bit, and then do a long run to "test" it to see if everything would hold up for a hopeful half marathon next weekend.

Well, early on Wednesday morning, I got in 11 miles!

I even did some "pace work" in the middle of that run. I warmed up for 2 miles at 7-7:30 pace, and then I did 6 of the hilliest miles I could find along River Road at around my half marathon pace (I ended up averaging 6:25.8 for those miles). No matter if I was running up or down a long hill, my first 9 half-mile splits of those 12 half-miles were all within 12 seconds: 3:09 - 3:21 (with the first 5 half-mile splits between 3:16 and 3:21 even though I started down the big Franklin hill on River Road and then turned around and ran back up it).

SO THE RACE IS ON NEXT WEEKEND!

Oh, and post-run, I had a good hot spot on my foot in the same spot that I showed 6 weeks ago after my 10 mile training run leading up to the TC 10 Mile 3 weeks ago. It was tender:

My wife gave me a clean needle (she works at a hospital [so I suppose she has access to lots of dirty needles as well]) to release the pressure:

It squirted a few inches when it first got poked.

So even though my training wasn't exactly what I had hoped it would be over the last few weeks, I played it smart and rested during some pain, and I should be in decent shape for 13.1 miles next weekend!