Day 12 (Sept. 4)

I’m still in Kansas, and I need to run 5 miles — my long run for the week. I hit the Shunga Trail, which really rocked (aside from those portions where they were replacing sections of the trail and had blockades and no trail).

It was a cool day (a breezy 70 degrees). Yes, 70 is cool for me. If you’re used to dealing with 90 degrees with 100% humidity, you’d find this almost chilly. And, this made running a breeze. I guess all those people that kept telling me that once it cooled off running would seem easy were right!

I went 2.5 miles in one direction and turned back for the remaining 2.5 miles. I walked a few portions (those mentioned portions with no trail and blockades). I also walked a few sections that had an extreme uphill portion to come up from under a road — extreme uphill could be an exaggeration, but when you’re used to flat land, any hill is extreme (or so says Jina). I tried running them, but I swore I was just making the running motion and staying in the same spot.

This trail took me through neighborhoods, soccer and baseball fields and wooded areas. It really was an enjoyable way to see the city.

Progressive run (Sept. 3)

As part of my plan, I’m supposed to do a 30-minute progressive run (get faster throughout) on either Friday or Saturday. I’ve not been great (OK, pretty crappy actually) at accomplishing this. But, this Saturday (Sept. 3), I did it. Well, not exactly. I attempted it.

I was in Kansas for Labor Day weekend, so I didn’t have my usual running routes at my disposal. My dad and I went searching for places to run. I found two that I thought I’d give a try (one Saturday and one Sunday). The site of my progressive run: Cedar Crest trail, a 2.7-mile trail in front of the governor’s mansion. I thought I’d get one loop in about 30 minutes. Well, somewhere along the way, I went on a different trail and ended up back where I started in about 10 minutes. Also, I went up a gigantic hill (OK, gigantic is most likely an exaggeration, but it sure felt gigantic). People say Kansas is flat. They are wrong. Florida is flat. Kansas is hilly. I’m used to no hills or inclines of any type. This was killer. After the first 10 minutes, I gave up on getting any faster since I had to deal with the hills. After my first loop that was a little less than one mile, I stuck to one stretch that I kept running back and forth for the remainder of the time. It was somewhat flat, but gravel, so that was a little different than I’m used to, too.

I ran 30 minutes, but not progressively. Not exactly what I was supposed to do, but I’m happy I at least ran.