We had to leave the house pretty early this morning to bury grandpa, so I woke up before dawn for a three mile run.  I consulted with my dad and did a little online research to decide my route.  I decided on a seemingly easy out and back route that consisted of a combination of sidewalk and a very wide shoulder on a pretty busy road.  As soon as I started, I  sensed some trouble.  I found myself running quickly down a pretty steep hill.

The air was cool, and the quick but easy pace was refreshing until somewhere near the bottom I realized I’d have to run back up that hill at the very end of my run.  There was little time to fret because I was heading up an equally steep hill.  Now, this wasn’t exactly the Alps, but it most certainly wasn’t the flatlands of Florida either.  Imade my first mile in about 9:11, which was right about what I was shooting for.  I ran uphill again to the turnaround point and then headed back downhill. 

I w as making pretty good time on the way back until I developed and awful side stitch atabout 2.7 miles.  I started to walk, but that didn’t help at all.  In fact, it got worse.  With only 0.3 miles to go and on a downward slope, I just decided to screw it and start running again.  I made my way quickly downhill and came upon the final uphill section.  I’m really not sure what happened.  I guess I just wanted the run to be overwith.  I started to run really hard.  My side stitch quickly disappeared and I was flying up this hill.  Looking back at the data from my Garmin, I hit 5:00 minute mile pace midway up the hill.  Shortly after, I tired out but I stumbled to the 3 mile mark and beat my goal time.

Planned workout

8 minutes warmup

3 miles at 8:45 pace

5 minutes cool down

Actual workout

5 minutes warmup

3 miles at 8:41 pace

5 minutes cool down