Dam Good Run

Dam #5 Potomac River

No, I didn't misspell "dam".  But, the wording is appropriate either way.  There are two times of year (at least in the east) when you don't really know how well your training is going with regards to pace.  Summer and winter.  In the summer, especially in NC, the heat and humidity take their toll on the body.  Well, at least my body.  A few posts ago when we entered the 3 H's (Hazy, Hot and Humid) of summer (which was still in the spring) I decided to embrace the humidity.  I have done well with it but it doesn't make it any easier to run in.  I get out every day for whatever pace my body will accept.  It is sometimes not pretty and I start to worry that I'm not where I should be for my next marathon.  Believe me, I am not setting any land speed records anyway but I do want to run comfortably for 26.2 miles.  Some people will say that "running comfortably for 26.2 miles" is an oxymoron.  But I have had many long comfortable runs.  So, when a day presents itself like it did Saturday with cooler temperatures and low humidity in July, one mus take advantage of it.  I met up with my nephew Shawn at the C&O canal in Williamsport, MD.  He on his Trek bike and me in my Saucony running shoes.  The canal is tree covered and cool being by the river.  As we started, I wanted him to at least have to pedal but I also need to calibrate the weather to see if I could make the journey to Dam #5 and back thinking that it would be a 13.1 mile run, a half-marathon.  As we traveled north, the miles clicked by at an exceptional pace, at least for this 54 year-old.  When I first looked at my watch at about mile 3, it read 8:34.  I thought, "OK, that might be a little too fast for 13 miles, but lets go with it."  As I ran and Shawn pedaled, we caught-up on life and chatted the entire way to Dam #5.  Still amazingly, I could hold a conversation at that pace.  When we got to Dam #5 it was actually 7 miles from the start so the run back would give me a good 14 miler, easy math right?  I reached the dam in just a little over an hour. I took a short stretch break and admired the view and fury of the water rushing over the dam, fisherman perched on rocks just beyond  vying for their catch of the day.  Shawn snapped some photos and I am back at it.  I wanted to hold the pace back to the start (now the finish!) to finish a good half-marathon tempo run and go beyond 1 mile for good measure.  There was a rough patch at around mile 10 but I continued my journey until we spotted a fawn.  I took a 5 second look at this little fellow (maybe not a fellow) and finished as Shawn caught up from taking some pictures.  I hit the half-marathon point at 1:54 and finished 14 miles in 2:03 at an 8:49 pace.  It was such a good run and told me exactly where I am in training for King Salmon Marathon in Cordova, AK.  Today the temperature there is 53 degrees, showers and a dew pint of 51 degrees.  Here in NC, the temperature is 93 with a dew point in the high 60's low 70's.  I am looking forward to a good marathon.  Online, there are only 9 people registered but hopefully there are some paper entries.  Right now I will win my age group by simply showing up, running and finishing.  You can't judge your training very well in summer heat because everything feels so hard and downright sloggy.  When you do get a day to test yourself, do it and see what you've got.  It was a damn good run!

Days 182-189: 33 miles, 2014: 965 miles