Long run report.

After a so-so 3 hour ride on Friday, I was not really looking forward to a 3 hour RUN today. Especially, considering it is going to hit 100 degrees today in Memphis. I decided very early on, that I would get up FREAKIN early to do this run, because I did not want to be running in the heat. I thought it was funny that last night the weatherman said "Do not do anything strenuous in the next few days outdoors". Oops!

So, my alarm went off at 3:50am. I got up about 4 and was on the road by 4:30. I must say, it was AWESOME running that early. No traffic, peace and quiet, and it was actually quite cool. Well, for Memphis heat it was cool. I tried not to look at my Garmin for the whole first hour, except to check my HR. I did a pretty good job. I got to a gas station about 4.5 miles away and decided to fill up my gatorade. I was off again, and actually feeling pretty good. I took a different route than I had originally planned, but it actually ended up being the same distance. I stopped at the same gas station on the way back and filled up again.

During the 2nd hour, my hips got pretty tight, so I stretched at the gas station and it actually helped a lot. For the first 30 min of the 3rd hour, I was supposed to run in zone 3. I was a little nervous about this, since it will have been my longest run since the marathon last December. I ROCKED those 30 min. I was just in the zone, and my legs were turning over so quickly, with no pain. My HR had a little trouble getting back down to zone 1 for my last 30 minutes, but all in all, it was a SOLID run. I was motivated, didn't feel bad, and was finished with 14 miles by 7:30am. Can't really ask for a better start to the training week, eh?

SO happy my motivation was there for this run. I really needed it.