Avoiding redundancy on a neighborhood run

Today's run (street): 5.4 miles

After yesterday's gloomy weather, it looked like spring was finally coming back. It was still fairly chilly when I stepped outside this morning, but it was mostly due to the wind. I stood in a patch of sun to stay warm, while my GPS took its time finding a signal. Today's route was around the neighborhood, and I thought about the combination of roads I'd have to take to meet my distance goal of five miles.

I wore my Brooks Pure Drift prototypes, rather than my Kinvara 3's. Lately, I've been wanting less cushioning in the forefoot, and the Drifts are similar in that respect to my old beloved Hattoris. I definitely prefer to run with shoes that have a low "stack height" and minimal cushioning in the mid-sole. The Kinvaras have been excellent, and I'm a stone's throw away from 500 miles with them, but I've been missing the feel of a firmer-landing shoe.

I felt great from beginning to end on today's run. It was one of those rare training runs where I felt I could just keep going all day. Adventure Girl used to call it "perpetual motion running." Since I only planned to run five miles, I figured I could spend some energy on speed. I opened up the throttle every few minutes without affecting my high energy level, and it paid off when I saw my overall time.

I managed to cover most of the streets in my immediate neighborhood without doubling up too much on any one road. For some reason, I dislike running on the same section of road twice during the same run. Even if it's just seeing different houses and cars on other streets, it's still a different view. I noted that my hip seemed completely fine, and I can probably stretch my base runs to six miles now. I haven't been to Bethpage in a few weeks, so it's a possibility for tomorrow. I guess it's as good a time as any to buy my 2013 Empire Passport