May running totals

I ran the last five days of May, including today's 10-miler, and ended up with a 128.97-mile month, my highest mileage total of the year.

Conditions today, even though I was out on the trail by 7:30 am, were brutal. 75 degrees, 70 percent humidity. The sun was real up close and personal.

And yet, I decided to do a route that had some hills, albeit most were in the beginning of the run. So, I eeked out 10 miles in 1:25:53. An 8:35 pace. Heart rate averaged about 82 percent max, though it hovered around 86 percent the last two miles.

I had water at a fountain about 3.5 miles in, then I had more water at the ice cooler in my car at mile 7. At the end, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then, I saw a guy with an El Scorcho t-shirt on. That's the 25k race I'm going to run at midnight on July 20.

I asked if the guy had run the race before, he said yes. Then I asked him _ he said his name was Derrick _ I asked him what his run was this morning. "22 miles," he said.

22 miles! 22 miles! That's crazy. Crazy. Crazy. He was just finishing his run. He said he'd been out since oh, 5:30 am.

I couldn't have run another 3 miles this morning, and this guy _ Derrick, or was it Derek _ ran 22. Before I started feeling too bad, Derrick said he recognized me from reading my blog.

"Pretty cool," I thought to myself.

Anyway, here are my running totals for the month.

Runs: 21
Miles: 128.97
Time: 18 hours, 35 minutes, 52 seconds
Pace: 8 minutes, 39 seconds-per-mile
Best pace: 6:54 at the Mayfest 5K run on May 3.
Avg hr: 80.5 percent


Miles in 2008: 536.83
Time: 3 days, 7 hours, 15 minutes, 39 seconds
Pace: 8 minutes, 51 seconds-per-mile