Run in Pinkerton Park

Me and Allison post-run; it ended up not raining and was nearly perfect!

Allison was around for the weekend, and it was great to be able to run with her. We met at Pinkerton Park, which we discovered last year during the Amazing Race with Inversion. It has a great 1-mile, paved trail, and then it has another trail that goes back through Fort Granger, which I think has some historical significance in Franklin (I don't know what it is, though). I got there a little early to do a few extra miles (5), and then we did another 4.58 (which ended up being 5.5 total, because we cooled down and walked a little bit more around the path.

The first and second parts of the run...and I found out how Liberty Pike and 96 connect, so that was exciting

My first time around the trail, I found this sweet sign and wondered why I'm not doing "comfort pushups." I can't imagine they'd help get you very strong, so that's probably why. We walked back around the trail to get a picture.

Comfort pushups...who knew there was such a thing?

After some water, and smoothie, and a cookie, we parted ways and I headed home to finish my 15 miles (which ended up being nearly 16 total, and I have 2:04 on my watch, but I'm not sure how accurate the time actually is, because I did time while we were walking.

The third leg of the run, which took about 40 minutes or so

After church, during which we could hear the tornado warning siren, thunder, and rain, I headed to the Y, hoping that it was open. It was, be we couldn't go upstairs until 6:30, so I did a wall squat (3:30-4:30; I lost track of the time because I was talking) until we could go. Then I did everything (except push up--I have to have something to do tomorrow) on the list; 7 minutes of work.

• 1-leg squat: Focus on lengthening the quads--no knee pain. I think I succeeded at this, but my heart rate did not go up for any of the exercises and I feel like I need to do them all over again.
• Standing extreme hamstring: Everyone likes this one, and I think that's because you feel it a lot but it's relatively easy; you can let gravity help you.
• Curl: 5-lb dumbbells, only because that's what was on the list. I didn't really feel it in my biceps until the last 2 minutes, but my lats were working hard, and I tried to keep my legs engaged the entire time.
• Crate crunch: As the minutes ticked, I was shortening my abdomen less and less, even though I was thinking about shortening it as much as possible the whole time.

As hard as the 7-minute days are, they are the best mentally for an endurance athlete. They make me work ridiculously hard, if only for a limited time, but then I know I can do it. And they are teaching me to discern the difference between pain (none of which I felt today) and discomfort (a lot of which I felt today). My legs were screaming at me during the wall squat due to the 16 miles this morning!