All in all, not a bad run at all.

ORN: 16 miles, outside, about 2:40, 9/1 run/walk split. I'm not entirely sure on the time, but that's pretty close. I stopped the timer a couple of times - when I bought another container of water from a gas station, and when I had to wait for a couple of lights. I wasn't trying for a certain time today anyway.

I really just wanted to get out, for a nice long run. Just me, the road, my watch, and the random dead animals that happen to litter the roadside. I didn't take my music, because I wanted to enjoy the run without any distractions. Inside, on a hamster pad, I need the music for my longer runs to distract me from the mind-numbing boredom that comes with a steady pace and unchanging scenery. Outside, music is nice, but not required - and not always desireable.

Today is my longest run to date, and I felt pretty good all the way through. Taking yesterday off, and stopping at the first indication of possible injury on Thursday was a good move - my knee didn't bother me running. I did stress a couple random muscles - nothing serious, just a mild ache that reminds me that a road is cambered, and that shoulders are not always flat. It was good though - I need those muscles to be strong when it comes to running a long trail race, and they don't get enough of a workout when I am inside.

I did get the chance to start testing some of the various flavors of Gu and Clif Shots. I don't know what will be given away for any given race, so I plan on bringing my own, and I want to find out now what works well on my runs, and which flavors I like. If something makes me kinda nauseus or is particularly hard to swallow, I'd rather find out now, when the only thing that matters is my pride.

I did get a couple "Oh, you wuss" looks from people when I would start my walk breaks. I wanted to turn around and follow them for a bit, and let them know that, by the time they gave me the look, I had already been running (with some walking) for 2 hours, and had covered 12 or 13 miles. I don't need to do the 9/1 splits for anything up to 90 minutes, but I am still using it for my really long runs. I don't plan on always using it, but my current goal is to build my base and stay (relatively) injury-free. If it means that I take walk breaks, then so be it.

During my run, I pretty much decided that I am not even going to worry about setting PRs this year - I will, almost certainly, set a few (since I have never run a marathon, or a 25k before), but this year is going to be about building a long-term, solid foundation and really enjoying the process of putting one foot in front of the other, again and again, as the miles flow by underneath.