Worst. Aid Station. Ever.

Had quite the run today. After yesterday's lousy strength training workout where I reached physical exhaustion after starting my second set, I felt a little depressed. But I moved on. This morning started out a little lousy too but again, I moved on. This time, out the door.

I shuffled down the road, keeping an eye on my heart rate, and did my best not to freeze my nose off. The sun wasn't up yet so I made sure I was wearing bright colors and had a headlamp on to flash the drivers coming my direction. And I'm glad I did because you could tell when they saw me. Sometimes living in the country is a good thing. As I moved my fat ass down the road, I kept looking at my watch, making sure I was in the right zone. And kept looking. And kept running. When I reached the area of the one mile mark, I was shocked that I was able to keep my heart rate down so far. But I kept running. And kept watching. After three miles I needed to pee and my super-awesome run streak was over. That's the first time in at least 2 or 3 years that I've been able to run that far without stopping to take a walking break.

From there, I moved into the second leg of my route and my heart rate would steadily rise. The road was super busy, there was barely a shoulder to run on, and nearly all of it was uphill. But I did my best and carried on.

By the third leg of the route, I was able to get things back to where they needed to be. For about 5 minutes then I needed to take a dump. I'll spare you the details because things turned out to be too gross for me which means it's too gross to share with you. Let's just leave it at that.

After my stomach expelled the demons, I felt better and was able to keep things under control and finished out the run. The last 3 or 4 minutes I pushed the pace a bit still felt okay by the end.

Photos:
Over an hour into the run, the sun was finally peeking through the trees.

This was the worst aid station ever.

Weather:
Temps were about 30F to 35F. Things were warmer in the sun and on hills. Sun wasn't up at the start but was up by the end. Sky was clear. Little to no wind.

Fluids and Fuel:
Breakfast was a yogurt and half an iced coffee. During the run I had a bottle of Hammer Fizz and a bottle of plain water. At the halfway point I had a small packet of applesauce. Recovery was the rest of my coffee, Hammer Recoverite, and a small piece coffee cake.

Aches and Pains:
Right knee was hurting a little bit towards the end but nothing horrible. Ass started to chafe a bit since frozen leaves make poor toilet paper. Everything else was fine.

Gear:
Wore shorts under pants. Wore gloves and a winter hat. Wore thermal top with a cycle jersey over it. Wore my headlamp and kept the light on for the first 5 miles.

Heart Rate:
Kept myself in Zone 2 for the first three miles. Danced into Zone three several times for the next few miles. Finished the last few miles in Zone 2 with a good surge for the final 3 or 4 minutes.

Splits:
Leg 1 (about 3 miles) - 38:18 (AVG HR 143)
Leg 2 (about 2 miles) - 26:48 (AVG HR 149)
Leg 3 (about 3 miles) - 38:46 (AVG HR 139) (includes poop break)
Finish - 1:43:53
MIN HR - 104
AVG HR - 143
MAX HR - 169