Long Run in Conroe with Hills

I got up early on Saturday to head up to Conroe to do a 20 mile run on some hilly terrain that Sean had recommended to prepare for running Boston.  We started out in the dark on the run at about 6:15 and I started out with Sam who is also training for Boston.  The first couple of miles were uneventful and then Sam took off in the third mile and I wasn't ready to start hammering the pace.  Eventually I lost sight of him as we were running through curvy roads.  I hit the first water stop at about 5 miles and Sean came running up while I was there and showed me the route I was supposed to take since I was a little confused on the route.  He also told me to work the downhills and go fast on them.  We ran up a street to the end and then back to the water stop area and i was only about 50 yards behind Sean at this point and a bunch of the rest of the group was getting to the water stop and probably thought I was a totally awesome runner since it looked to them like I was keeping up with Sean.

A little while later I saw Sam running the opposite direction and backtracking since he had made a wrong turn.  I kept running and eventually came to a gate across the road so I figured I had taken a wrong turn so I turned around and ran back into Sam coming the other way.  He had some directions in his pocket and according to them we were going the right way so we ran back to the gate and saw a car coming through it and asked the guy for directions.  It turns out we were on the right route, but I hadn't heard Sean say anything about a gate on this road.  I stayed with Sam for about a mile until we got to another water stop about halfway through the run.  I took some of my clif shot blocks and had a couple cups of water and then turned around and started heading back.  I stayed with Sam for about 1/2 a mile before he dropped me again.  I was moving at a decent pace, but I just couldn't hang with him and run at a comfortable pace.  When I got to mile 15 I pulled out the icy-hot I had been carrying with me and put it on my legs to keep them from cramping up or getting too sore.  My hamstrings weren't feeling too exhausted like they had been on Monday, but my right hamstring which had been tender for a few days was definitely giving me a little discomfort.  I kept working the downhills on the hills and finished the 20.1 miles I ran in 2:13:30 for a 6:38 average pace.

When I first finished, I didn't really feel that great about my run because Sam had just destroyed me on that run and I couldn't hang with him.  Then I looked at my watch and realized I had just done 20 miles on hilly terrain at sub 6:40 pace.  If you take out the first 3 miles where I was getting warmed up, I did the last 17 at about 6:32 pace.  I was pleased with my effort on the run and I was able to finish the run strong even though the last 3 miles had some of the toughest hills in them.

1 - 7:31, 160

2- 7:05, 151

3- 7:02, 161

4- 6:36, 157

5- 6:43, 158

6- 6:31, 160

7- 6:31, 164

8- 6:25, 166

9- 6:44, 164

10- 7:00, 162

11- 6:26, 161

12- 6:36, 165

13- 6:23, 168

14- 6:30, 171

15- 6:26, 172

16- 6:28, 164 (HR dropped since I stopped to put on icy hot and get water)

17- 6:32, 173

18- 6:40, 172

19- 6:25, 175

20- 6:18, 175

The splits weren't as consistent as they might have been since there were hills in just about every mile, but I was happy that I was 6:40 or better every mile in the 2nd half of the run.  Sam was on fire and had a great run.  Hopefully the next long run I'll be able to stay with him.