Posts Tagged ‘Peaks of Otter’

My dog, Duke, joined me for a few miles at the Peaks of Otter today.

In the past two years, one of my top moments was running at least a mile every day for a month. I learned a lot about myself in April 2010 with how to push through tired legs if I needed to, how to still get effective rest even without taking a full rest day, and how to just enjoy running.

Day 2: Peace and quiet around the lake.

I’ve thought a lot about doing a streak since then. At one point earlier this year I made it a goal to streak in June, but I pulled out of those thoughts in the last minute as I continued to build mileage after my injury.

As the end of the year approaches and I stay focused on the “end it stronger than I begin it” goal, my eyes lit up at the inaugural Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak — simply run at least a mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day to take part.

Even though I have cut back on my mileage this month, I am becoming more and more passionate about running — I know how the highs and lows can come and go, and right now I am eager to carry this high into 2012. To me, the Holiday Run Streak is a perfect opportunity to discover new things with running and to push myself at a time of the year that I’ve never really pushed myself.

My plan is as easy as the streak sounds — on my normal non-running days, I’ll stick to the 1-mile approach for a rest day. If I have to get up early to run a mile I’ll do it; if I have to wait until 10 p.m., I’ll do that too. If it rains or snows or ices, I’ll run. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I’ll run. If I drink too much, I’ll still run the next day.

Yesterday’s 5k and a run at the base of the Peaks of Otter this morning were a great way to kick this off. I’m excited about what this streak will hold as I head for two more 5ks in the next couple of weeks, as well as crossing 1,000 running miles soon. It’s an absolutely perfect way to end 2011.

14 miles in 2:15 around Bedford. Longest training run since fall 2007. I realized this week that the last time I trained for the Richmond Marathon that I didn’t document my experiences very well. Now that I have a decent phone I can take with me and not have it get in the way, I’m going to start taking it with me on more of my runs. Down the road if I’m debating whether to train for a certain race or not, I want to remember scenes like this:

Or, better yet, this. You can never have a bad run when the Peaks of Otter are within view:

Meanwhile, my run around Bedford looked like this. The hill mapping on Daily Mile isn’t quite accurate, but it was still a crazy hilly run. I hit the biggest hill around mile 9, but pushed through it pretty well.

I needed 2.9 … I did 4.1. What a great month of running … 30 straight days of it. I’ll post more on that later this weekend, but I wanted to celebrate my 100th mile for a little bit — and celebrate this streak — and share the great view of where mile 100 this month came.

It's no accident that mile 2.9 tonight -- mile 100 for the month -- came with a view of the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County.

Cold rain. A few snowflakes mixed in. No watch. But I’m happy to have a 5k under my belt 400-plus days later.

But I did it … I think. “It” is setting a course record for the Christmas Classic. Unfortunately there was no clock at the finish line and I somehow left my watch at home. I overheard someone in front of me say they were just a little more than 24 minutes, so I’m pretty sure I beat my 2004 time of 24:51. Official results have not been posted yet. I know I easily beat 2005′s time of 26:51. It’s nice to get older and get faster in a race, but honestly I know I can do faster. I won’t beat myself up, but if I could knock off 10 pounds I could knock off another minute or so of my 5ks.

Anyway, this was a crazy day to run outside. The temperature when I woke up was 40, but that gradually dropped in the morning. And it was raining. As the race ended, a few huge snowflakes were mixing in, but it rained the whole 3.1 miles. I don’t really have too much to say about the race — I did what I could, but I couldn’t push it very hard in the last half mile, which is pretty much uphill. My shoes were water-logged and my toes were getting numb. And I was cold. I just couldn’t push myself through that today.

This is a great way to close off the crazy running year of 2009. Had injuries not slowed me down in the spring, it’s hard to tell where I would be right now. But I can’t dwell on that — I can only look forward. Ending on a high note like this certainly helps.

On a side note, it did snow today … in the mountains. Here’s proof from a visit to the Peaks of Otter this afternoon: