Longest run of my life!

The title pretty much sums it up!  I started out this morning at 7:30 and kept running until 10:20!  2 hours and 50 minutes.  It was supposed to be a 14.6 mile run, but I missed a turn in there somewhere and ended up running an extra mile or so and finished the morning with 15.91 miles under my belt.

Pretty morning, Overcast and about 55 and calm when I started out and upper 60's and 10 mph wind out of the west when I finished.  Let my heart rate get up a little higher than I wanted with a 153 average and my pace wasn't quite what I wanted at 10:42 per mile, but I was trying not to overdo it since I missed the turn and added the extra mileage in there.

Cathy and Eli came out and cheered me on and took a couple pictures for me.  I'm not breaking any land speed records, but I'm building a pretty good base anyway.

Here I am at mile 12ish.  Out of the 15.91 miles, about 11 of them were on unpaved county roads like this.  I think it is less wear and tear on me than pavement.  The funny looking socks are compression socks.  The theory is that it helps with blood circulation and recovery. Not sure if they work or not but they can't hurt.  I'm wearing a mesh hydration pack to keep me hydrated while I run instead of trying to set water out on the route.  The best part about it is the brand name, "Nathan". 

I planned my run for the last 2 miles to be downhill back into the canyon.  I discovered this spot on accident back in college and when we decided we would put down roots in the Lubbock area on a permanent basis started looking for land out in this area.  This tunnel of trees is a pretty rare sight in Lubbock, Texas.  It's pretty neat to be able to run through them.

Coming out of the tunnel, around mile 15 which was already farther than I'd ever run before.  I actually felt really good at this point and picked up my pace for the last mile back to the truck.

Still working at losing weight.  Broke the 220 mark over the last couple weeks and am closing in on 215.  It sure helps when you are burning the calories that I've been on my runs.  According to Runkeeper I burned 2,853 calories on this mornings run, that's almost a pound of fat burned!

I haven't been running around the rest of the day doing jumping jacks or anything, but I haven't been laying around miserable either.  We took Eli to Home Depot to build a bird feeder and spent time together as a family. 

Oh well, that's it for now.  Happy Easter tomorrow!  Nathan