Playing it semi-safe

Mile: 75 (including last night's 8 mile and this morning's 10k run)

Decided to hit up Riverside park for the first time in two years because Central Park is starting to bore me. Trees, rocks, and waterfalls are all fine and good for a hiking trip or a leisurely walk but unless there's some variation, I am not a happy camper! To that end, I went from 94th street down past Chelsea Piers to 14th street and back in ~ 1 hour, fifteen minutes. The views HERE were absolutely spectacular! Almost as good as, if not better than, the Broadway run I did last week If i'm any judge of these things. You had the river reflecting a great sunset at that point, docks that held the Mounted Police station and the U.S.S. Intrepid, (seeing that gave me a HUGE patriotic vibe, I love that ship!) as well as the burned-down tower that's always looked like a great place to explore but is off-shore. That's just describing what was to the right - to the left I saw the UPS headquarters, the weird looking building that David's architect friend designed, the High Line railroad, the West Side Highway, and TRUMP TOWERS! Why does all that excite me? I'm an infrastructure nut - you can't have a functioning city without this stuff, people! Ohh and there was also this cool-looking factory I forget where but you don't see too many of those in NY these days! (Or anywhere In America If the papers are telling the truth) There was so much to see that I wanted to keep going once I hit 14th street, but too much more and I'd've passed out from the heat and strain all this running is putting on my body.

This morning I woke up too late to run outside, but mum let me into the gym where I ran a 10k on the treadmill. I decided 'Hey, I've been trying to best my friend's time for ages, why not give it a go today?' so I oscillated the speed between 8.5, 9, and briefly 9.5 miles an hour to finish with a 43:00 net time. That was faster than my best RACE time! (43:48 according to NYRR) My friend Matt however managed a 42:11, which was my goal for today, but I'm sure I'll catch up in the next week or two. Always good to have both a speed AND a distance goal in mind.

I am NOT looking forward to the 6-miler tonight, my knees are KILLING me! Can't be helped, though, I'll just have to watch my form. The good news is, since I bought a proper hydration belt today, I won't run the risk of heatstroke like I did yesterday. Yay for optimism! (reaches for the Advil bottle)