Met at Sasha's house at 4:45am. Still feeling pretty sick. Very congested and have a bit of a cough in the morning spitting up nice yellow stuff. Needless to say I was not looking forward to the run especially since I knew Sasha would ask the question "so are you up for a tempo?" I did not feel up to it but conceded to give it a shot anyway for at least the normal 2.5 mile course. Did not feel great but tried to relax and keep a decent rythem going. I felt worse than on Saturday physically but the trail conditions were slightly better. Still ice and snow for the whole first mile but after that it is only patches of snow every couple hundred meters or so. Temperature today was a nice and warm 12.2'F! The first run in the double digits for over two weeks. Did not really pay attention to splits but knew first mile was under 6:00 pace. I was thinking I would end up around 14:30 or so similiar to Saturday's first 2.5 miles but ended up with 14:13. Sasha stopped for a nature stop and then passed me as I stopped for a nature stop so ran most of the tempo on my own. Splits were 5:48, 5:42, and 2:43 for the last 800. Surprised considering how I have been feeling lately. This was my best time on this 2.5 mile course by 22 seconds and it was run with 2.5 layers of clothes at 5:00am with ice and snow at 12'F. I can't wait for some warmer weather to see waht kind of difference it makes. One of these days I need to run our tempo workout in the afternoon to see the difference as well. I seem to run better in the afternoon for some reason but I just don't get the opportunity to do so very often. Sasha wanted to do the 2.5 tempo on the way back as well but my mind and body were not willing to participate. Sasha took off and I just ran at about 6:30-45 pace. Overall 10 miles was just under 7:00 pace average. | 