Difficulty of up > ease of down

It's Monday (Labor Day) morning and after taking the day off yesterday, I am do for a kind of long run today. Not exactly sure how far I plan to go today, but I would like to get at least 5 miles in. Since I am heading north on Catalina Hwy, towards the base of the mountain, that means I will need to get to Snyder, at a minimum.

It's about 6:15am when I get started. Legs feel pretty good and it doesn't take me very long at all to get comfortable. I know this is a longer run, so my pace is intentionally slower. At the 18 minute mark, I am just passing Sunnywood (the turn-around point for my 5K run). I drop my arms, shake out my hands and make sure I am still feeling good. check!

As I approach the 4-way stop at Snyder, I have decided to go further. This will be my longest run in quite some time. After Snyder I notice my pace slowing even a bit more. The incline is getting to be significant and as a result, I am beginning to feel a strain in my Tibialis Anterior . Nothing major, but it is definitely noticeable. I reach Mt. Lemmon Short Rd 42:44 into my run. Wow that is slow! But, I have decided not to concern myself with that. The idea for today is to concentrate on distance.

The journey home starts out with quite a bit of downhill. The 'ease' of the downhill is somehow not proportional to the difficulty of the uphill. And again, I am feeling the stress in my right Tibialis Anterior. The discomfort tends to make me place more concentration on my form and foot-falls, just to make sure it's not poor mechanics which is causing this. However, form and mechanics aside, I am still feeling pretty good, breathing easy and striding comfortably.

I finally lose myself in the music and other thoughts. This, in my opinion, is the best part of my runs. When I can let my mind wander to other things besides the difficulty of running, it's fantastic. One hour and twenty-five minutes, after I started, I am hitting the start/stop button on my Timex Triathlon Indiglo and beginning my cool down walk, which takes me in a circular pattern around my cul-de-sac. Stretch the calfs, quads, hamstrings, IT Band, etc and that concludes this 7 mile run.

My post workout protein drink seems especially good today. I set my self in front of the TV. Ice on both knees and my sore right Tibialis Anterior, sipping my icy beverage.