So Close

Carrie got me the Nike + running system for my birthday last month. The Nike + consists of a pedometer sensor that fits in the sole of your shoe if you have Nike's or in a pouch attached to the laces. The receiver plugs into your ipod. I've used a couple different methods for measuring pace and distance while running and the Nike system is pretty accurate, enough for almost any runner. The reason I really enjoy it is the website they have set up allows you to participate in goals and challenges in addition to tracking and saving your data. You get medals for completing these goal and challenges and for passing distance landmarks. I thought I was going to get my 100 mile medal this weekend but came up less than a mile short. I'll get it on my next run on Tuesday though. The system also has recordings of Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods and a few others that congratulate you when you reach those milestones.

I also completed my longest run in about ten years on Saturday morning. I did 9 miles at an avg pace of 10'21" which is about the speed I want to run the marathon at. I felt good for the first 7 miles but the last two my feet started to hurt and the sun and the temperature had risen. I ran a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in college, but hadn't gone further than 5 or 6 miles since then. I have been on a few long marches in the army including a "march to daylight" one night in the California high desert when we tried to get in position to support one of the Brigades from the 3ID while at the National Training Center. The tanks and Bradley Fighting vehicles drove too far too fast though and the 25 or so kilometers we had walked barely put us in radio range of the morning battle. One of the problems of dropping paratroopers in the desert.

But running is different and distance running requires almost as much mentally and is it does physically. We'll see how it goes when the training runs increase.