Day 63

Yesterday Dr. Jeff and I went to our friend Andy's farm for a run. Andy is a farmer and a super strong runner. He lives in the country (duh, it's a farm!) and there was no traffic even though we were running on paved roads.

It was a gorgeous setting for a run. The sun was coming up at 7am when we started and it cast a perfect light on the looming snow-capped Owyhee Mountains. The morning light is softer and more tranquil, or I was still groggy from not enough sleep. It had rained during the night and the ground was wet but there was nothing coming down when we ran. It was idyllic.

I trotted along with Jeff and Andy for a mile to warm-up and then I told them I wanted to cut loose. I ended up running 5 miles at 8:30pace. My total for the day was 6.05 miles. Andy's course offers a 3-mile loop and a 4-mile loop. Whichever loop you choose you have to make a sustained climb followed by a sustained downhill. It makes for good training and I credit Andy's course for helping me PR in the Wenatchee Marathon last spring.

We're joining a team of runners from church to tackle the Famous Potato half-marathon in May. It should be a good motivator to keep tallying miles and to work on speed. I'm still hopeful to log 100 miles or so each of the next few months. I'm currently on pace with 171.71 miles.