Week 27 was like a mixed feeling. You can check it out here. With 450+ miles under my belt, let’s see how far I can go in this week.
Day 1 – Sunday, July 12, 2020 – Quarantine Day 118
The first day of the week couldn’t be any better. Yesterday, as it was the last day of the last week, I did finish almost 16 miles distance while running early in the morning and in the afternoon, went out for hiking and finished almost 6 miles; this gives me a good mileage and allowed me to finish the week on a high tone.
I wanted to continue doing the same and start this week on the same high note. That’s why I decided to hike the new state recreational area an hour away from my place, Holly Recreational Area, thanks to my friend, Monika.
We have been to many state parks this year for hiking and walking, and Holly Recreational Area stood out to be the best so far. There are two hiking trails available in this recreational area, connected by a common parking spot. The biggest advantage of this area is that the trails and the campgrounds are around the lake, so even though the Sun was scorching some heat from the North, the trees and cool breeze from the lake made sure we are not uncomfortable during the hike.
We ended up finishing both the hiking loops in around 4 hours and the distance covered was roughly more than 9 miles.
The hike was followed by Pizza and tea and talks! Excited for the week ahead!
Day 2 – Monday July 13, 2020 – Quarantine Day 119
After an awesome weekend, it was time to put some breaks on my outdoor activities.
Saturday was 15.6 miles of running and 5.8 miles of hiking, followed by Sunday with 9.6 miles of hiking. This totals to 30 miles of weekend activities, and after that, I desperately needed to take a rest day.
Monday turned out to be that ideal day for me to cool down and let my body recover.
I skipped the run, but ended up completing 4 miles of biking followed by an hour of soccer with the kids. It was not a lot, so I didn’t mind it.
Day 3 – Tuesday July 14, 2020 – Quarantine Day 120
What a day!
When I tried the Tartan Tracks at the Northville High School over the weekend, I immediately fell in love with it and was waiting for next opportunity to try those tracks. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long, as I could experience the soft surface of the track against my feet today itself.
After waking up a little later than my usual 5AM time, I didn’t feel like running as I was still *feeling* some pain in my left knee. My friend, Anupam, was getting ready for the run and asked me if I would like to join. I had to turn that offer down. But, when he left, I started thinking about last week and how difficult it was for me to complete 20 miles of quota for the week. So, instead of skipping the run and sitting at home, I got my bike and reached the Northville High School for the run. He was surprised to find me accompanying him for the run, which I answered with one word – FOMO.
After parking our bikes, we started running together and I immediately remembered the beautiful feeling of the Track & Field surface against my feet.
There were two different things about today’s run. The first was that I had Anupam for the company, who usually runs faster than I do and the second one was I didn’t look at my Apple Watch today, so that I focus on finishing the 5K instead of concentrating on my pace. I was just counting the number of rounds of the track and tried pushing myself, being breathless. It was until 3 miles mark that I finally took a peak at my pace and I was overjoyed and pleasantly surprised to see 8’25” pace for the mile. I couldn’t wait to finish the 5K run as I thought I was onto something, and boy, I was right. As soon as my Apple Watch hit the 3.1M mark, I noted the time, and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw 25:35. It was my PR for a 5K run till date and definitely a morale booster as I have been struggling to improve my pace and bring the 5K time lower than 25 minutes. I am sure with this lifestyle and focus, I would definitely achieve my 5K PR under 25 minutes.
After finishing the run and soaking in the feeling, we biked home and enjoyed some beautiful bread omelette. Here’s the picture.
The evening was spent with some lazy bike ride and an hour of soccer with the kids.
Day 4 – Wednesday July 15, 2020– Quarantine Day 121
New day, new Highs!
Today was the repeat of yesterday’s morning routine. After waking up at 5AM, I was out the door at around 5.30AM and started to bike to NHS at 5.45AM. It took us around 23 minutes to get to the school and we started our run at around 6.15AM. Little did I know when I started the run that I was surprised myself again today.
Looking at the mile chart they have at the Track and Field ground, we decided to circle the lane number 8 12 times to finish 3.3 miles in total. Like yesterday, today I didn’t check my pace while running and waited until 3.1 miles to check the time. I was overwhelmed to see 24:47 on my Apple Watch and realized I have just realized a big milestone that I was trying for last month or so. After finishing 12 rounds, my friend Anupam was still running on the track, so decided to complete one more round before calling it a day.
At the end of this run, I had covered 3.6 miles in 29 minutes flat. This has been the quickest pace by far for me, so grateful for this.
After the run, we enjoyed tummy full of Maharashtrian breakfast – Poha. Here’s the picture.
The evening was busy with the kids around on the bike and it was awesome to take them to the high school and run around on the turf surface. They seemed to like it, let’s see if they run on it the next time.
Day 5 – Thursday July 16, 2020– Quarantine Day 122
With just couple days left for the monthly Quarantine update, I desperately need almost 20 miles of running to finish the 100 miles for the fourth month of quarantine, however, the weather Gods here in Michigan were busy playing tricks. It rained throughout the night, which extended till 11AM. That caused me to run in the afternoon.
I was glad to shut down my laptop at around 3.30PM to go out for a run. I checked my running log before going out for a run and noticed I needed approximately 18.5-19 miles to cover 100 miles of running distance during the fourth month of quarantine (June 18 – July 17). I wasn’t in the mood to cover 18-20 miles in a single stretch, so convinced myself to run a Half Marathon. If I could run a Half Marathon, this will be my second HM for the month of July and the sixth one overall. I have a target of 12 Half Marathons for the year 2020. Let’s see I will achieve it or not.
Coming back to the run, I fueled myself with just a banana and a glass of water and relied heavily on the weather to be cloudy so that I don’t dehydrate myself. Fortunately, the weather stayed cloudy throughout the run and the temperature was below 70F. I didn’t take any water bag or food to have it during the run. Not a good decision, but, went ahead with it.
The run turned out to be a super fun and the best Half Marathon effort yet. This is the PR Half Marathon. The first few miles went like a whisker, before I knew I was at the High School, having already covered 5 miles. The Tartan Track at high school helped me cover 5 additional miles, bringing the distance to 10 miles. When I looked at my Apple Watch, I saw I had covered 10 miles at 1:51, which was my best effort so far. This was the moment I realized I could go for my for Half Marathon PR. I told myself, if I could cover remaining distance in 30 minutes, that would be my new PR. All is said easier than done, right? I took almost 32 minutes to finish the rest of the distance and still managed to score a PR, finishing the Half Marathon distance at 02:23:39 with 10’57” pace.
I was so done with this maximum effort and run that I just sat alongside my car’s wheel not talking to anyone for a good 5 minutes. I was soaked in sweat and desperately needed water and food. Good that my friend Anupam had already prepared fruit smoothie for me, which I took 10 seconds to finish. When I was at mile 11, I told myself to go through the rigorous effort that I was putting in and I would reward myself with the BnB (Bread Nutella Banana). I was just picturing it during the mile 11-13.1 and I was so happy when I took the first bite. I was tasting Nutella after a couple years (that’s right!) and it was enough to compensate for the 2,000 calories that I had burnt during this run.
A 10K run needed for 100 miles of running for the fourth month of quarantine.
Day 6 – Friday July 17, 2020– Quarantine Day 123
Another day to run before ending the week number 28. As I mentioned yesterday, I still needed a 10K run to finish the fourth month of quarantine at 100 miles, so that was my goal for today & I was so glad I could do it.
I couldn’t go for a morning run, so I had to wait until the end of the day to go out and achieve this goal. It was 5PM by the time I shut off my laptop and after devouring a couple BnBs, I headed out for the run. I was under confident of myself when I started the run. A lot was riding on it and I didn’t want the pressure to get to me, so I took a good 5 minutes to breathe myself before starting the run. That helped me calm things down and to tell myself that it was just like a regular run and I shouldn’t think too much about the goal.
Plus, the temperature in the early evening was around 80-85, which made it harder to run. I had to keep the pace in check so that I don’t dehydrate myself as I wasn’t carrying any water with me. My friends, Monika & Anupam, also wanted to join me, so we planned to meet at the NHS, upon reaching where I just had 2.5 miles to go for my 10K distance. Running at NHS on the Tartan Track has been a blessing for my feet and I remember putting more efforts and pace towards the end of the run. I managed to finish the 10K distance a few seconds after the 1 hour mark, a good achievement under the circumstances.
More than the 10K pace, I was happy with the fact that I amassed those many miles of running during this fourth month of quarantine, setting myself one more ambitious goal for the next month (given that we don’t go back to work before August 18th). Let’s see how things unfold and where we will be in the coming weeks.
I am riding the high wave of confidence till then!
Day 7 – Saturday July 18, 2020– Quarantine Day 124
Ah! We finally reached the end of the week and keeping the tradition alive, Saturday turned out to be a well deserved hiking day.
This week we decided to hike at South Higgins Lake State Park. It was roughly 3 hours drive from our place, but, sitting at the back seat of the car and reading my book made the 3 hour drive feel like a few minutes as I couldn’t believe that we reached our destination sooner than I anticipated. As we had just had breakfast when we left home, we had lovely lunch by the beach before starting the hike. I was disappointed to see so many faces without the masks and crowding the beach. We decided to stay away from the crowd and the lake water as precautionary measure.
After finishing the lunch, we enquired the Park Ranger about the nearby trail, who confirmed that the walking trail is available at the Marl Lake across the street from the state park. Upon reaching the Mark Lake entrance, we were relived to know the parking lot was empty and could start out hike with some peaceful nature.
The hike overall was very peaceful and we didn’t meet more than 5 fellow hikers throughout the hike. The hike had three trail to offer and we chose the longest one among them. It was 5.2 miles long. If you add up all three trails, you would get 9 miles of distance in total. Unfortunately, all loops overlapped each other, so even though we covered all three loops, we could only hike for 5 miles. It took us about 2 hours.
After the hike, it was usual post-hike Pizza time and we devoured it. Have a look.
This brings us to the end of the week number 28. Many things accomplished so far and many more to go. Hope the best is yet to come!
stochasticity 
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