Workout Wednesday: A Bucket List Run

I know that it is technically still summer, but like I said in my post on Monday, it's really starting to feel like fall (especially this week as the temps will dip into the 30s at night - what in the what?).  The humidity went away last Friday and the temperature dropped which means I woke up on Saturday morning to a perfect day for running.  My club was meeting in a different spot than usual in an area I wasn't familiar with.  I had gotten kind of lost on some trails the weekend before so when I saw there was a high likelihood that I'd spend much of the run lost or feeling on the verge of being lost, I decided to do my long run alone on a familiar path.

I decided to run around 3 Minneapolis lakes, which are referred to as the "Chain of Lakes."  This just so happened to be on my summer bucket list, so I was able to cross another thing off (side note:  I have not accomplished as much as I thought I would!). 

It was in the upper 50s when I started and I was a little bit cool in my shorts and t-shirt, but I quickly warmed up.  The skies were blue and the lakes were like glass; it was a picture perfect day to run.  Here are some (not-so-great) iPhone photos that I snapped along the way!

Lake of the Isles, which is the lake that is the closest to downtown Minneapolis.

Lake Calhoun, which is probably the most popular Minneapolis lake, but is actually my least favorite of the three.

Lastly, Lake Harriet, which is definitely my favorite of the three lakes!  I love the bandshell and marina area which you can see in the distance in this photo.

I have had some tough runs this summer as the workouts that the run club coaches plan are tough and some of them have been done in pouring rain, heat, and/or ridiculously high humidity.  Those tough runs have made me question if I am in as good of shape as I thought I was, but on Saturday I was reminded how much of a difference cooler temps make as my average pace for my 12 mile run was 8:53/mile, which is almost 40 seconds faster than my usual pace!  The best part is that I was able to maintain that pace without feeling like I was really working hard.

I definitely felt on top of the world when I finished this run.  Being able to run in such a beautiful area is something I really missed last summer.  Minneapolis is such a beautiful place to run as we have miles upon miles of running paths, many of which are alongside water.  It's no wonder that Minneapolis makes the 10 Best Running Cities list!  I've always appreciated the beauty of Minneapolis, but after being away, I appreciate it even more.

Life is not perfect right now (it never is, right?), but I'm thankful that I'm back in a city I love, logging miles upon trails with great views.