After an inspiring XC parents' meeting last evening (all the usuals plus 6-8 new faces - this is my 3rd season as booster chair), I was fired up for a good run this morning. Planned on working the middle 3 miles of my usual 5.4 mile ravine trail/overstreet loop course at about 7:35 pace. I hit them at 7:33, 7:32, and 7:21, and felt pretty comfortable still, so I decided to maintain through the next mile as well and ran 7:33 again - not bad. Cruised in the last half mile slowly and was rewarded with a silly little fawn that pretty much ignored me as I eased past about 10 feet away - always fun. The better than expected race a couple weeks ago, dropping below 160 lbs, a hint of Fall in the air, and the kids' enthusiasm for the first XC meet on Saturday are all combining to help me ease the pace down on these 4 to 5 mile runs - very encouraging. I will start adding in a "long" run (7 or 8 miles) next week probably, but still keep the milage not much more than 25/week for a while. |