Running + Walking = Faster Splits

Temperature: 78 degrees; Splits 9:47; 10:00; 10:01; 9:46; 10:19; 9:58; 11:09; 9:37; 9:17; 1:29:54 total for 9 miles; 9:59 per mile pace.

Today I did my "long one" the right way. Unlike this past Monday, today I remembered to follow the training schedule of running for 6 minutes and walking for one minute. What a difference! I was hoping to average a 10 minute per mile pace, even with the walk breaks. I parked at the linear trail, and did not see roller blading, disco dancing, karaoke singing, linear trail lady's car, or the "killer cats." Bummer! My daughter Stephanie came along to roller blade, and we set up a meeting at the car for 90 minutes later. Just to be safe, I wore my tool belt and packed my cell phone and car key in it, as well as giving Stephanie a car key. Since I now had peace of mind, I was off and running. Great thing about wearing a Garmin Forerunner 305 is that I can run the roads and not have to map out my route ahead of time. My "random running" as I call it had me heading up a hill and down and around some side streets. My goal was to stay off main roads and run the back roads. Roads with sidewalks are always a priority. Between miles one and two I found myself running a difficult uphill, which passed by the site where members of the Petit family were murdered in July, 2007. I don't know if I should go there, but I am. **Feel free to skip down to the next paragraph if you don't want to read my take on it** Back in the 90's, I owned and operated a lawn care business. The Petits were a customer of mine. When I first heard the news about the murders, I was constantly trying to remember why their names sounded familiar. Two days later, it hit me....hard. I could remember meeting Dr. Petit and his wife Jennifer inside their home and talking to them. Usually when people called me for a lawn care quote, I would go to their homes, look at their lawn, and leave a quote in their mailbox. The Petits were different. They actually took the time to sit and talk with me, and we got to know each other. Weird thing is, I can still picture the checks they used to pay their bill: The font, the signature, etc. How and why I don't know. So today Dr. Petit lives his life as best he can, and what used to be a corner lot with a beautiful 2 story house is now a memorial garden with lots of flowers and a heart shaped flower memorial for his wife and two daughters.
The run-walk-run worked to perfection. I supplemented my run with my first Carb BOOM at the 3 1/2 mile point. My tool belt with it's two bottles of water wouldn't have been enough hydration, so smart me looped onto the linear trail between miles six and seven, and refilled one of my water bottles. So my scheduled one minute walk break became about two minutes, and the result was an 11:09 split time. At that time my roller blading daughter arrived, and shouted some encouragement: "Stop dogging it!" I quickly downed my second Carb BOOM, chugged some water, and was off and running again. I decided to run for seven minutes for miles 7 and 8 before walking to make up for my extended walking break. My strategy worked. Mile 8 was run in 9:37, and mile 9 was a 9:17. Impressive if I must say so myself. Overall, a perfect weather day for running, since it was sunny, breezy, and 78 degrees. My splits were better than I hoped for overall, and I finished strong and feeling great. I was able to spend quality time with my daughter, and we rewarded ourselves with 40 oz. 7-11 Slurpees afterwards! Life is good... :-)