Running With a 30lb Backpack, Bar None is By Far the Best Workout

So after a few months of what looked like no running on my part? I'm here to say, I have been running and I've been running with a damn backpack. I just lost interest in blogging about each and every run, hell I did that for almost a year straight and although it is a motivator to keep running, as I don't want to let down the five people that follow this blog (Hi Grama). Well, much to my surprise I have received at least a dozen emails from people I don't know over the last month wondering why I stopped running? I'm thinking I may start posting my runs again if anything like this, but maybe weekly. It did keep me hitting my goals, as I knew my grama and what I thought was just a handful of others were watching! Above are my running stats since my last blog post, although my speed isn't as fast as it should be? And my millage is down, I kid you not, I'm running with a 30lb backpack! I look like I should be out in the woods hiking and taking photos with random bears. By the way, in the picture bellow I'm standing on a deer, because that bear is f'ing tall! But this picture should give you an idea of what I'm talking about with my backpack. It's from today so that's what I looked like running down long country roads. And yeah, I ran 8 miles today with the dew point, humidity and temperature all in the 70's. Sure 70° may not sound hot, but with a dew point in the 70's and the temp in the 70's sweat doesn't evaporate which is how we keep cool, so the heart rate kicks up trying to circulate more blood to the skin in an attempt to cool the body. This is worse than 130° with low humidity and a low dew point, trust me, it really is! Be warned running with a backpack far away from any military post can gather un-wanted attention. As I clip down the road at my comfortable 8-9mm (with a backpack) I literately have people slowing down to ask if I'm okay. I always say, "what?" "I have headphones in" and "I can't hear you." Some of the older duffers just keep pestering, as they think I'm in some kind of trouble (running with a backpack). I had to tell one older couple that I was doing this on purpose and if I was not okay, I'd be walking not running! Gotta run, Chris Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 894 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: -52 ft Date: 07/05/10 Up/Downhill: [+482/-534] Time: 4:07 PM Difficulty: 3.1 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 8.03 miles Time: 1:19:07 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 51 /mi Calories: 1119 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 38 -1' 13 6.9 +0.8 0 ft 2 9' 31 -0' 20 6.3 +0.2 +19 ft 3 14' 11 +4' 20 4.2 -1.9 -76 ft 4 9' 58 +0' 07 6.0 -0.1 +33 ft 5 8' 58 -0' 53 6.7 +0.6 -36 ft 6 9' 23 -0' 28 6.4 +0.3 +39 ft 7 8' 58 -0' 53 6.7 +0.6 -20 ft 8 9' 12 -0' 39 6.5 +0.4 -13 ft end 8' 20 -1' 31 7.2 +1.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 51 min/mile

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