Shiawassee

14 miles yesterday. I went running with a colleague yesterday at the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. We've gone running there a half dozen times in the past year and yesterday the weather couldn't have been better. The area we went to has very well groomed trails and a nice 5 mile loop, which we did twice. There were still a lot of geese hanging out in the area so you sometimes had to watch where you stepped and had a few squak at us, but, hey, its their refuge. I took Casey and Elliott for a little run before going to Shiawassee to get the appropriate mileage. The new shoes were a little soft in the sole for the gravel road section, but I didn't develop any blisters or have any other problems so it wasn't too bad. I might switch back to my Frees next time I run there.

The place was pretty crowded, but it was nice to see so many people out enjoying a walk. Perhaps Elliott will join me there one of these days--especially once the semester is over. Unfortunately Casey, they don't all pets.

Later that night Holli asked me how far I ran so I told her 14 miles. She looked over at me and said, "14 miles? I didn't even drive that far today."

I'd been planning on taking my training runs up to 40 miles, but my colleague, who did a 50 miler a number of years ago, said that he never trained farther than 25 or so. I might go to only 30 or 35 and plateau for a while. We'll see how as it will depend on how the longer mileage feels.