Yesterday’s run followed (mostly) a 5K route I traced back when we first moved into this house six years or so ago. I say mostly because this time I added a littler spur. Usually I start on 1st and head south; today I trotted down Roosevelt to 3rd, and then 130th back to 1st and then south.
The goal was to run slow, again, and monitor that foot ache. This route has two places to stop and wait for traffic, when I across Aurora, twice. As soon as I started down Roosevelt I realized my error: another convenient stop is after only a quarter mile, crossing 130th itself. A quarter mile and then 30 seconds of standing is not a bad little wake up. Oh well.
On the headphones: The Sound Defects, mellow tunes for a mellow run. I turned left at 1st ave and down towards Corliss. This goes down to 122nd, and past Burke to hit mile 1. My watch said 9:07 at this point, which was too fast. I did have that foot ache, but it wasn’t as bad, maybe since I’d had more movement earlier in the day, maybe because I loosened my shoes a bit.
Continuing on 122nd to Densmore and back up to 125th, which completes the lower half of Haller Lake. And then up to Aurora- up in the sense that it’s a couple blocks of 3% grade and one at 5%. But like I said, there’s the traffic stop at the top. 30 seconds later I was running past Krispy Kreme.
A right turn onto the Interurban trail, another sharp but short uphill section, and then I crossed 130th where the trail is now on Linden Ave. Here’s the end of mile 2, and if we adjust for the Aurora pause, I’m still running below 9:10. So much for my “mellow” music.
Up Linden- climbs to the highest point of the run at about 14st street. I made the right turn onto 143rd, and then another pause at Aurora– but traffic was light, and the pause was all of four seconds.
Across, down, and Roosevelt, a right turn. The three mile mark is just past Ashworth, 9:09 for this mile. But I was feeling perky. El Chupacabra was on my headphones, so I just went with it. Up and down Roosevelt, across 1st, and home.
3.6 miles when all was said and done, which is not a 5k at all, is it. Close enough.