I felt good today. In my warm up I was going 7:30's up a slight incline and just feeling a nice spring in my step. So I decided to just do a 7 mile loop of some sort holding a 7:00 avg pace. I ended up changing my mind because Simms Hill was calling my name when I got to the bottom of it. So I decided to do a 3.5 mile out and back with a large hill in the middle and see if I could hold 7:00 pace. I did the half mile up Simms hill in 3:43, pushing a pretty moderate pace but not maxing out by any means. Then I continued up Simms for another 3/4 mile and turned left up the hill on 128 for 1/4 mile until the 3.5 mile turnaround. Coming back down was fast, averaging between 5:30-6:30 depending on the steepness. And I was averaging 6:54/mile total after 5 miles, and feeling great. But I had to make a 1 mile climb back up the hill to my house. That was tough! By the top of the steepest part I was pushing really hard and struggling to hang on to 8:30/mile, but my avg was still 6:59 by the top, and I was able to cruise the last 3/4 mile home easily in sub 7:00. Totals: 7 miles - 48:46 - 6:58/mile avg - 470 Feet ascent The last hill was really tough, but otherwise it felt great to cruise at that pace. Here's the run elevation profile. There's not much in the way of flat running around my house. Which is fine by me! 
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