Woke up, got some work done and headed out for a good 20 mile run. I thought I was supposed to be on vacation. We are staying right by where the Lake to Lake exchange was for the 5th leg so I thought I would start there and run legs 3 and 4 which would be close to 10 miles. I thought the trail would take me most of the way but it ended after 1/4 mile. I meandered through the neighborhoods and saw a bike route sign and followed it. I thought it would lead to the trail but never did. I ended up climbing the side of a mountain. I really was not planning on running any hills today because they seem to aggravate the achilles. Eventually saw the trail and remembered that was exactly where we stopped and took Jeremy's picture. Jumped on the trail and followed it but took a wrong turn at a fork and ended up on the marathon course. Decided to run up that until I hit 10 miles then turn and head back. The course certainly is not as fun going uphill and having cars flying by you. Felt pretty good going up. I was running 8:20-8:30 and didn't feeling like I was pushing. About the right LSD effort. On the way back down I was running 7:20/mile. I wasn't really pushing the pace at all and was running comfortably. Everything felt really good except for the achilles. It either hurt really bad or I couldn't feel it at all. I guess that is better than hurting all of the time. Averaged 7:40/mile for the entire run and am happy with how I felt physically. I haven't run many hills during this training cycle so I was concerned about my hill running ability. This was a very hilly run (up and down) and I did fairly well. I promised the kids we would play racquetball after my run so of course they were ready as soon as I got back. Played for 30 minutes then played in the pool for a couple of hours. The diving pool is ice cold so I soaked my achilles for awhile. Total Time: 2:33:26 (7:40/mile)
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