Ten Miler in St. Paul

Today wasn't a perfect day in St. Paul, the temperature in the mid 40s and strong wind, but I felt the need to go on a run after three or so days of eating lots of sweets. I didn't start my run with the plan to go 10 miles, but that's how it ended up.

I began my run near the cathedral, at the eastern end of summit ave. I felt pretty good, wearing a hat and gloves along with my running shorts. Not a combo I usually go with, but I needed some warmth.

After running 2 miles down Summit, I arrived at Lexington avenue. Its a great place to turn around, as it is a pretty major intersection. I felt strong and pushed on, full well knowing that any step I took, I would have to take again on the way back. I made the same decision at the 3 mile mark, Snelling avenue. Even at that point I thought, well, I'll just go a few more blocks, but it felt good, so I continued on, making it to the Mississippi river rod trail, 4.5 miles from where I started. I ran to St. Clair avenue along the trail, and made sure to run by one of the lookouts over the river along the way.

The trip back was tough, as I knew it would be. I hadn't run more than 9 miles since 2008! I had a few slow moments, but tried to throw in some short tempo challenges. I would run half a bock moderately fast, or run fast between two obstacles, such as tree and a lamp pos.

It felt good for my furthest run of the year. I did it in a decent time, too, though nowhere near my old race pr. This wasn't a race, though. This was a fun run down beautiful Summit ave!