For Whom the Dogs Bark

80F, 88%, SW 8 mph.  20.42 miles in 3:22:00, 9:54/mile, from my house down to the Y and back by the long route.  145 bpm average, 165 max.  Started at 4:30 and stayed under 150 bpm through the first 10 or 12 miles, then my HR started climbing in the heat and in the sun.  Ran the first half at about 10:10 pace and the second half at about 9:40 pace, last mile 9:21.  At 0.70 miles in I realized I had forgotten my liquids; my inclination in a situation like that is to bull my way through, but I realized there would be no 20-mile run today without a bottle, so I went back and got it.  Just meant that my route was a little different.  There were a few people running out of the Y this morning, but mostly quiet in the sweltering heat, not even mid-summer yet.

At mile 16 there was a guy in a small park with two large bulldogs loose.  They headed my way barking but I stopped, somehow remembered to pause my Garmin.  After a while we had an impasse, as the dogs stood there and I couldn't get through.  So I asked the guy which way I should walk and he said they were fine.  I walked up and met him and his dogs (Rye would have been proud of me).  He was Ken and he was doing some version of cross-fit.  Said he used to run 5 or 6 miles every day.  Then of course he asked how far I had run and was pretty amazed, though he shouldn't have been, judging from my appearance.  

The last 0.42 was mentally difficult.  I finished up right before the kids' water park in my neighborhood, took off my watch and took everything out of my pockets and had a nice shower, felt good to exchange salt water for fresh water. 

Much of it is heat, but I really need to get better at running this distance.  It wipes me out.  When I first started on the road back I noticed how a particular distance would be hard, then manageable as I move up to the next level.  At 20 miles, I am pretty sure I would improve noticeably if I did it two or three times a week, but right now I'm not recovering quickly enough to do that and I would soon be behind the eight ball.  It also takes at least 3 hours to do it, and I don't usually have that much time without getting up even earlier.

Hurried off to help somebody move and Wade was there.  He isn't running right now, he thinks he tore the mesh in his abdomen that was installed in a surgery in April.  He was doing fine until that happened.  He says it takes him about 2 hours in the morning to get warmed up, then he is fine for the rest of the day.  Kind of an odd thing.