Hitting the hills

Last slow pace run in Berlin was 6 miles at a little under 9min/mi in the uber flat Tiergarten. Today I decided to add to that, but to give myself some slack on the pace because it is way hillier here in Stone Ridge. So I went on runningmap and planned this http://www.runningmap.com/?id=585276. A little over 7 miles with an elevation change of 230 feet twice (meaning you go down and up 230 feet two times). So I aimed for about 9:30min/mi, but it was more about completing the distance than sustaining a pace.

The first 3 miles were fine, but the 4th mile (where I hit the first hill) was hard. At that point I started thinking I might have to walk the remaining 4 miles. Once I reached the 4 miles mark, I walked for 1/10th of a mile to put on my iPod and then started running again. Surprisingly it started feeling better. And with Goldie by A$AP Rocky playing, I thought about Ragan, the most famous long-distance-runner-economist I know, who enjoyed that type of music (and used the urban dictionary quite a bit I am sure) while visiting NYU. The trail started going down, and for a while I thought I might end up face first on the pavement. After it got flat again, I don't know if its the music, thinking of Ragan, or the 1/10th mile of walking; but all of sudden I felt fine and started feeling good again. This lasted even as I started going up hill again after 5.5 miles. The good feeling lasted about until 6.5 miles, then the end was a bit harder.

In the end I did 7.27 miles at a 9:39min/mi pace. I know its not much for the runners out there; but its probably the longest I have run in my life. So I feel good about it. You can see my stats here.