Week 11 - Day 30 - 07.19.10 - Monday (6.36 Miles with hills)

This early Monday morning marks my 6th time doing this hilly course that starts at Duniway Park through Terwilliger Blvd and onto Barbur Blvd.

It must have been Abigail Scott Duniway herself that caused me to stop my run because my hair came out of the this half assed bun that I tried to quickly do for my run.  I stopped and set my cell phone on this rock and after putting my hair in a tight ponytail realized what the rock was that I was looking it.

It explained to me who was the individual who the park and the lilac garden was named after. I just assumed it would be another gentleman from othe 1800s and was surprised to find out it was indeed a woman by the name of Abigail Scott Duniway.  After reading her short bio I realized our paths were meant to cross.  Although my life story isn't as heroic and groundbreaking in the history sense, we had two things in common.....we were both women and both passionate about our mission.  Mine just happens to be learning to run a marathon at the age of 38.  After quickly reading this bio, I started my run with a renewed sense of confidence and respect for this amazing woman which happen to be the beginning and end of my run.  Thank you Abigail Scott Duniway!

I wanted to do my 14 miles today but knew it was not possible with a pending conference call from Corporate at 9AM so I did just a run at 1 hour, 11 minutes and 39 seconds.  I ran 6.36 with a pace of 11:16 which isn't bad with the incline of these hills. 

I also took note of what my time was from the bottom of the hill at the Duniway Park sign to the Chart House Restaurant sign which was 29:41.  I will take note of that distance for my future Terwilliger Blvd runs  to see if my time improves.  I have noted that my time from that same starting point to a street by the name of Chestnut improved from my last Thursdays run of 44 minutes to today's 39:51, so yeah me!

I tried something new today and decided to run back to downtown by way of Barbur.  Good news is that it is mostly downhill, the bad news is there is no sidewalks so a majority is running beside very fast and dangerous traffic. 

Note to self: Stick to running back up and down Terwilliger Blvd. for the future!