Run to the Park for Football!

That's right. Yesterday morning, as planned, I ran to the park where some guys from my church (along with random others) have our annual turkey bowl! The distance from my house to the park was 7.33 miles, but with the activity being quite different from running, I wore my backpack full of spare clothes. Basically a pair of shoes, sweats, a sweatshirt, some Powerade Zero, and my Reebok HRM.

I couldn't believe the difference with wearing the backpack. I mean, I'm used to wearing the same backpack hiking, but didn't think it would make me so much slower! So here are the splits.



Splits
Mile 1: 9:25.95
Mile 2: 9:11.28
Mile 3: 9:31.79
Mile 4: 10:16.14
Mile 5: 10:19.24
Mile 6: 12:07.52
Mile 7: 9:29.78
.33 Mi: 2:48.10 (8:36/mi)

Totals: 7.33 miles, 1:13:09.80, 9:59/mi, 919 calories burned

Now, I'm sure you're asking yourself: what happened in Mile 6? Were you walking? Or were you listening to Chariots of Fire again?

None of those. I fell again. There wasn't an excuse this time, either, I looked all over the place for the rock, or the upturn that I fell on. The fact of the matter is, klutz tripped over his own feet. I didn't land gracefully, either, and managed to scrape off the scabs that had formed from last week's fall. I also was so intelligent as to forget a first aid kit or even one wet wipe. Heck, I didn't even have a towel. I had nothing to clean myself up, so I just kept going.

For fun, here's what a closeup of the mile I fell on looks like. Speed and heart rate both take a nosedive.




By the time I got to the park, blood had dripped all over my leg and soaked the top of my sock pretty well. At least my friend Mike had some baby wipes in his car, so I was able to clean myself up. As is the usual routine, not everyone had arrived yet, so we didn't actually start playing until maybe 8:30.

One thing I noticed over last year is how little I was getting out of breath, and how low my heart rate stayed. I was quite happy with it, actually! My football skills suck, of course, since I only play once a year, and even when I did play semi-regularly it was in high school, where I was always the least athletically inclined in my gym class. Over the next two hours, I managed to burn another 665 calories.

So the total for the day was 1582 calories! I was still careful about what I ate later in the day, although I ended up eating more than usual. Along with tomorrow's long run (destination unspecified as of yet), I think I will have made up for it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and to those of you who have the day off, that your extended holiday weekend is wonderful! The ones who are working, like me, I hope your day is as light as mine.