First Long Run In A Long Time!

   Later on, in June, I have a 1oK race planned. To date, I have really not run anything longer than 5K, so I'm thinking I maybe need to tack a little mileage on, occasionally.


The mighty Thames River.
The white area is snow-covered ice.

   With this in mind, today I decided to run 7K. I planned on running the same route I used for my previous run; I would start at Storybook Gardens, run east along the river for 3 and a half K and then turn around and run back.
   For whatever reason, today I felt good. I think it may have been a combination of a good night's sleep, proper fuelling and a couple of extra rest days since my last run or workout.
   In my last 5K outing, I had had to take a couple of walking breaks but I could tell today by the second kilometer or so that I would at least be able to finish 5K without stopping. After that, if I needed a couple of walking breaks for the last 2K then I had given myself permission for that---it was the distance I wanted, not so much the time.


The Guy Lombardo bridge. Guy was from London!

   Well, as it turned out, I was able to complete the whole 7K without stopping! A very minor victory, to be sure, but it is also the farthest I have run since the plantar fasciitis shelved me, almost a full year ago. Good for me and we'll see how the heel feels tomorrow!
   Running the extra 2K today also took me farther east along the river than I have ever run before. I am now SO looking forward to running this route when (and if) the nice weather (ever) hits.

Running under the Lombardo bridge
was pretty cool!

   The part of London on the other side of the river from where I was running today is the part I grew up in. This year marks my fiftieth year here and this is the first time I've ever found myself directly across the river from where I used to play as a kid. It was actually pretty cool and quite scenic at the same time, as you can see from the pics.
   I had also been looking forward to running in more seasonable temps. Yesterday, it was just a Celsius degree or two below freezing. Can't tell you how balmy this felt! Today, however, it was around -10, -12C, just about the same as it was for my last run. After the breeze died down, though, it was pretty nice.
   The one thing I forgot to do was apply Vaseline (lol spellcheck really wanted that capital "V" on vaseline, otherwise I'm sure it would have preferred if I'd written "petroleum jelly") to the exposed areas on my face and at the end of the run there was a little windburn there. It then occurred to me that part of it was actually sunburn. Stupid me!! Forty-five minutes out in the bright sun with even more bright sun reflecting up off the snow and I don't think to apply sunscreen?? I spent several weeks at the end of the summer doing a chemotherapy cream treatment on my face and now I'm running without sunscreen? Won't happen again!


My socks bright enough for you?!

   A week tomorrow, I'm running the 5K event in the Really Chilly Road Races here in London. London Honda sponsors a series of six races throughout the season and I only just found out about them towards the end of the series last year so this year my plan is to run in all six. I haven't been terribly impressed with my 5K training times lately and I have guarded hopes for next week but, at the same time, it's also nice just to have a goal and maybe I can springboard off that race just a little. Fingers crossed!