Pavillion Loops

Yesterday I wanted to do 15 miles and, if remotely possible, 20. Had originally planned to do 20 at Lunken Airport with Sooze, but she got sick. Thought about trying to do my three loop ten-miler twice. But that is mostly on sidewalks and couldn’t deal with the pounding.

Prompted by a guy that Tommy and I (or actually, just Tommy because I was oblivious to it until he pointed it out) have seen running loops around the pavilion in Ault Park, I decided that maybe I would give that a try.

I figured out that it is about .75 miles from my house up to the pavilion, and that the pavilion loop is about .65 miles around. A 20 miler is about 30 loops. Somehow that did not seem insane to me sitting here at my desk contemplating it.

The reality was far different.

Anyway, it was a pretty nice day for a long run. Temperatures in the upper 40s but bright sun and not too much wind, and the temps were climbing to the low 60s later in the day. But it was still in the 40s when I headed out.

I wore my CW-X tights, a black short-sleeved technical tee shirt from the New Year’s 5 mile race last year, my light blue hat from the Lady Distance Classic, and my hydration vest filled with ice water. Had not worn that vest for awhile, and it was more comfortable than I remembered. On my feet, I was wearing the NB 763s.

My knee felt a little worrisome as I ran up the street. I attribute this sudden rush of knee disability to moving the furniture around the living room on Friday night, and a couple of days of running with Ed. Yes, Ed was staying home for this one. Anyway, by the time I had gone a half mile, the knee was okay.

Started the first loop in my customary direction (counter-clockwise) and all was well. Took 9:44 to reach the start of the circle and 7:10 for the first lap, which included a one-minute walking break soon after I started the loop. Decided that 7 minute pace per loop would be acceptable. Decided to change direction at the beginning of each new loop. Had considered changing less often but that was the easiest way to remember. Kept track of my laps by using the split counter on my Nike running watch.

Well, I only made it 12 times around. It was a lot harder than I expected. Part of the problem was psychological. With it being Easter Sunday, and a lovely day, the park was unusually full of people, and I became acutely conscious that it was obvious to some of them that there was a crazy lady running loops of the pavilion. Also, there were at least two guys doing something similar, except they were walking, and that weirded me out too because I kept lapping them. I really would have preferred to be alone out there. Or else with some company, like Susan.
Splits were: 1) 7:10, 2) 6:53, 3) 6:26, 4) 6:39, 5) 6:57, 6) 6:47, 7) 6:46, 8) 6;57, 9) 7:10 (at this point decided that if I had two loops over 7 minutes in a row I would quit), 10) 6:40, 11) 6:53 and 12) 7:09 (at which point I decided I was really sick of the park and wanted to at least go someplace else).

Oh, also there was this old guy on a bicycle also doing loops of the pavillion. I've seen him before so that didn't bother me, but what did creep me out a bit was that he decided to change his route the same time I did and I ran into him again twice on my way home.

So I headed out of the park the way I normally would on my 3 mile loop, then decided that maybe I would try to see how much of my regular 10 mile run I could fit in, now that I was all warmed up. So instead of stopping at the top of the stairs the way I usually do, I headed back down the hill and the trail to my house.

But when I got to the house, I saw Susan’s car was here so I decided I should go in and see her. I thought maybe she was over her cold and we could go out for another five miles. Well, turned out she was just here to do laundry and hang out, and still sick so she couldn’t run. And by that point I didn’t really want to go back out so that was it.

Anyway, I got in about 10.25 miles, which is better than nothing. And now I have a cold too, so that might be it for the week. We’ll see. Time was 1:55:12, which is quite slow but it is a hilly run, and I thought my loop times were pretty consistent if you consider that the walk breaks occurred at various places on each loop. I think I might try this strategy again on a day when I can have the park to myself.