18 miles
river road / minnehaha creek / lake harriet / lake nokomis / minnehaha falls
56 degrees
18 miles! I’m tired now, but it wasn’t terrible and I felt good for much of it. The last 4 miles were harder, but not impossible. When I finished, I felt like that was all I could do, but I know I’ll be able to do more when I run my 20 miler in a few weeks. My average pace was 75 seconds faster per mile than last week during my 16 miler. Nice!
While I ran, I listened to Death on the Nile. Almost 3 1/2 hours of it and the main character hadn’t even died yet! Well, her body was just about to be discovered when I turned it off at the end of my run. Maybe I’ll listen to the rest of it on my 20 miler?
I think this is the first time I’ve run all the way to Lake Harriet since I was training for the marathon in 2017. As I ran, I thought about how grateful I am to be still running and to have another chance to run the marathon. It’s taken 7 years, and almost 7000 miles, to get here. Wow!
18 Things
- a crowded trail, with lots of runners and 2 roller skiers, under the ford bridge and nearing the falls
- creak creak creak — the sound of the wood on the duck bridge as I ran over it
- several dogs barking frantically on the other side of the creek
- the bronze bunny — no scarf or t-shirt or anything on it today
- a rushing, high creek at one spot, a calm sparkling creek at another
- passing over the creek on a tall bridge, looking down at the rushing water
- hearing some kids laughing on the other side of the creek, crossing and bridge and seeing them jumping around
- loud cheers at Lake Harriet — a running race — decided to turn around early to avoid it
- a person sitting on the wall of the weir near lake nokomis, fishing
- 2 more people fishing on the shore of the lake nokomis — one in a portable chair, the other on a cement bench
- a paddle boarder in the water just off the little beach
- giant images of monarch butterflies on the pickleball fence for yesterday’s monarch festival
- view from cedar bridge — lake nokomis in a blue shimmer
- a young kid on a bike, waiting at the top of the hill near 28th. after I passed by, he called out to his friend, it’s clear now, you can go!
- running over gravel near nokomis avenue, my foot striking down on a sharp rock — ouch!
- encountering 2 surreys near 38th
- an event — maybe sponsored by Friends of the Mississippi River? — at the welcoming oaks. there were tents and people and signs and (maybe) ice cream
- after finishing my run I could hear drums playing across the road at the welcoming oaks
added an hour later: I just remembered the sound of the wind in the trees. In certain stretches, it sounded like water falling. Briefly I wondered, is that wind or water, but then I noticed that where I was there wasn’t any water that would make the noise. No falls or ravines or seeps. A beautiful, comforting, calming sound, that wind!