Long Runs in the Desert

I've been out of state for Christmas. I thought our trip was going to be warm, sunny, dry and did I mention warm? New Mexico in the winter is hit or miss. Some weeks it might be in the 50-60s and some might be in the 20-30's. The lows are pretty low and remind me of home.

Christmas Day was an 11 mile run. I woke up extra early because I wasn't quite sure how I was going to sneak in an 11 mile run. I was up at 6am and left the house by 6:30. It was a pretty cold and crisp morning. I didn't think anyone would be out?? I saw a few walkers, runners and a few cars. A few more folks than I thought. I had an enjoyable run and was pretty fast.

Two Days later I had my Sunday long run. Why didn't I wake up extra early and run?? I thought I was going to have plenty of time. Time just got away and I didn't get started running until about 4:30pm. Yikes. That means I had about an hour of sunlight. When the sun goes down the desert gets COLD! And pretty scary too because it gets dark. I didn't go exactly where I hoped, but I just ran. I ran along the highway, which was fine until it got dark.

I had about 6-8 miles left out of 17. It was pitch dark. I knew exactly where I was going, but the terrain was rocks, dirt and not level. I was glad to know that I have tons of miles behind my belt and I wasn't going to trip. I've done it before, but not while on vacation. I slowed down just a little, but I think it was because it was dark. Did I also mention I played the Wii fit the night before? My Glutes were pretty sore and I felt it.

My first 2 miles were warm up and I had 8 miles of hard running. 8 miles at marathon pace. I didn't quite run those miles at my expected marathon pace, but I figured it was pretty darn good. I ran 17 miles last week and was 10 minutes slower last week. What a great run, even though it got dark out.

I have one more lactate threshold day of running tomorrow morning and we will head back to Colorado. I ran a little over 65 miles this week. Pretty cool.