Saturday, July 23rd

Weather - Pitch black out, 79 degrees and in the middle of a big heat wave when we started.  Sunny and 83 degrees when we ended.  Humidity was high.

Clothing - Black running shorts (longer, biker style), Short sleeve tech shirt (rockstar),  fuel belt, spi belt with phone

Nutrition -   Ate a banana and cliff bar before the run. During the run:  (8) 8 oz powerade. A GU at around mile 5.6 and another GU at mile 8.8.

Route -  Started at the intersection of Lee Chapel Rd on Ox Road.  Went 2.5 miles down Ox past Burke Lake Road and turned around.  Then went 3.5 miles down Ox towards Occoquan and turned around. 

Distance Completed: 12  miles

Time:  Started at 5:00am, took 2 hours, 33 minutes.

J.W., T,  A, and I met at 5:00am to try to get in as much of the 12 miles as possible before the sun came out shining bright.  It worked. I got close to 10 miles done before I could feel the sun beating down on me.  I had no pain during this run and was pleasantly surprised how far I got before I needed to do some more walking. This kicked in around mile 10.

I came up with the idea to freeze a wet wash cloth and a bottle of water the night before. I put it in a cooler and placed it at the corner of Lee Chapel and Ox.  When we got done with the first 5 miles and was back at our starting point, it was really nice to have the wash cloth to wipe my face and put it on my neck to cool me off.  I could actually feel my body temperature lower.  Very refreshing!

Also, I stopped twice at the gas station (once at mile 7.6 and again on the way back at mile 9.4).  The first time I bought a bottle of Powerade and refilled my containers.  On the way back, I used the air conditioning indoors to cool off for a little before continuing.

Anything I'd do different?  No.  I have to say that given the extreme heat, this run went as well as could've been expected.  I am still in shock I've now run 12 miles.  WOW!

Mid-week runs - ran 5 miles on Tuesday, ran 4 miles on Thursday; both on the treadmill at the gym.