17 Miles of Sacrifice

From Pearl Izumi...
IF YOU RAN WITHOUT SACRIFICE, CONGRATULATIONS. YOU JUST JOGGED.

"Running hurts. It always has. Woolly mammoths didn’t just roll over onto a plate and serve themselves up to prehistoric man with fries and a shake. They had to be caught - and running down woolly mammoths was a bitch. Guess what? Running is still a bitch. But one with a purpose. It teaches us that good things do not come easy. it teaches us that we are capable of more than we think. It teaches us that hard work will be rewarded and laziness will be punished. Don’t expect to learn those life lessons from running’s shiftless stepchild, jogging. Next time you suffer on the roads or trails, suffer proudly. It means you run like an animal."

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Normally when I post a link to our Saturday runs, it's just that...a link to the data. Today however, I'm compelled to right just a little bit about it. This was by far my best run of the year. It hurt like hell, I was slow in a few places, but overall it was awesome! Here are some of the details.

From my house to the top of 18th Street we pushed the pace to 8:28. Not ridiculously fast but it included over 400 feet of climbing. The run down 18th was done at a 7:50 pace and once we hit Carson Street, it was time to pick it up. For almost the next hour, or about 7 miles, Nate and I averaged 7:42. That's my best pace so far this year at that distance.

From there, it was back up the 404 foot, 18th Street climb. Average pace 8:56 (that's my pace, Nate was about 20 seconds ahead). Last time we did the run that pace was 9:02 on the hill

The final 3.7 miles back up Brownsville were brutal! Nate & I both took the first mile after that hill somewhat slow before Nate tore away and finished a good few minutes ahead of me. I did however still manage a 8:35 for that final 3.7mi stretch (305 feet of climging).

Overall result was a 8:10 average pace for 17 miles!

Much better faster than the 8:25/30ish times we've been posting on our long runs!

Still lot's of work to do before the PGH Marathon, Average pace there was 7:50, but it was only 988 feet of climbing. Our training runs are already 1,300 feet of climbing.