Surroundings

This was a local trail in Springfield, not too far from my house.  It's shaded, but mostly groomed dirt and gravel.  Two street crossings, but otherwise it's "woods".  Lots of squirrels, chipmunks and blue jays.  I also got VERY close to a deer while running.  I guess I was nicely relaxed and "non-predatory", as she just shifted off to the side of the trail when I came past.  She didn't shift enough to get off the trail, just enough to leave me room to pass on the other side of the trail.  I could have smacked her rump if I was so inclined.  I guess she's accustomed to fat guys huffing down the trail. ;)

Stats

• Location: Springfield, VA
• TOD: Early Evening
• Weather: 75º, damp (had just finished a little drizzle)
• Distance: 3.7 miles
• Time: 50 min
• Pace: 13:43 min/mil
• Average Heart Rate: 136

Not bad...  but nothing thrilling up there.  The cool part is this:

The Run

The above is a pace graph of the first 20 minutes of my run.  A pace graph is like a reversed speed graph... the lower the pace (the dark blue), the faster you are going.  My first five minute warm up walk is the big section before the 5:00 mark.  Then I started running (ok, jogging).  The spikes are mostly from the GPS not having good reception (it's a heavily wooded trail).  Notice that it's in the Jogging/Running pace...  until 20:30!  That's 15 minutes and 30 seconds of jogging...  with NO stopping! That's was my first real goal for running.  Done! :)

Other software shows that my actual jogging pace average was about 10:43 minutes per mile. At that point, I turned around and did a fast walk back.  That's why it was a 50 minute session... 20 minutes out, 30 minutes back.

Anyway, my first running goal is complete and I don't feel terrible.  One ankle is slightly complaining, but no more than parts of me usually do from any reasonably decent workout. 

Now all I have to do is figure out my next realistic goal... gotta check the workout schedule and figure that out.  Will post when I do.