Ventura is such a nice city to live in, with many great places to run or walk or just hang out. One such place that I really enjoy is the promenade. Whether it is to walk or run on, or just to sit and watch the ocean and the many people playing on it, it is a favorite of mine. This weekend was one of those when it is the regular Friday off at work, and on those days, a few friends like to gather at the beach and play some volleyball. I have been taking advantage of these days to get in a short run before playing some volleyball. Starting at San Pedro Street and running towards the fairgrounds before turning around at the roundabout allows me to get in a 5K run. On this day I wore my Nikes since the two days I ran during the week wearing the Brooks didn't feel too good, although I got off a fast 5K on Tuesday. Those shoes seem a little tight in the toe box and even if I don't tighten the shoe laces much closer to the toes, they still feel tight. So I will have to take the shoes back and see whether I can exchange them for another pair of Nikes or if those shoes will be a very expensive walking shoes. They feel good walking around in but not quite for running.

On Saturday I went to Inside Track to join in on the long run. Brandy wanted to get a 14 mile run in. My first instinct was to reply, "Are you nuts?", but I thought that it was a good challenge to me. No, not 14 miles, that would be nuts. But maybe I could go to about the 5 mile marker before turning around. This helps her as she will only be alone for a shorter distance than usual and it will test me as to how my endurance is. We got going at a consistent pace from about 10:15 to 10:30. I was a little pumped at the beginning but was able to slow down with some gentle prodding from the running buddy. I will figure out how to keep a good slow pace for the easy days, if it kills me!!! Any ways, made it to 5 mile marker, exchanged fives and turned around for the return trip. By the way another runner joined us, Daisy, and she also turned around at the 5 mile marker. She ran the LA marathon a couple of weeks ago and was just getting back into running after taking a well-deserved break.

Daisy and I ran back at what I hoped for was the same pace. According to my watch we were a little faster, surprise surprise since I was the one keeping the pace. It was a little under 10mm. This may have been too fast for Daisy as she stopped to walk once we were near the entrance to Emma Wood. I continued on trying to maintain the pace and was doing okay until I got back to the sand area of the trail, about 7.5 miles into the run. Had to walk this part as there were too many people at the time and I couldn't get to the hard pack portion of the trail. Hate running in the sand!!! When I got back to the hard pack I started a slow jog but I knew that something wasn't right. I couldn't get back into a groove and was pushing too hard to get it. Maybe a bit too fast as I was approaching the pier I had to stop and walk. Walked a little over a minute before picking up the run. Again maybe a bit too fast as I pooped out before I hit Sanjon Road - that's not even a half mile!!! Walked another minute then ran two minutes before walking again. By the time I was approaching San Pedro Street I decided that I was going to finish the rest of the run so off I went. This time I was able to get a nice and easy pace going. About a block away from the end marker I picked up the pace a little more, as if I was finishing a race, although not as even close to what I did last weekend at the real races. I was spent today. Not too spent that I collapsed, but I was approaching the low fuel light. Brandy mentioned that Michelle wants us to fuel up about every 45 minutes. I have never run this far before non-stop, even when I was training for the half, so this iskinda new to me. Need to figure this one out, which bar or ge or whatever will work for me. It will have to wait a couple of weeks as I am getting ready to go on travel for work, riding aboard MATSS for two weeks. Will try to get a couple of runs in while in Honolulu, but no promises as it will be warmer and more humid than I am used to.