I went out a little later today than normal because I didn't run with Sasha and it was gorgeous outside. I think it was the first time in a while that I have really felt comfortable running while wearing short sleeves. I went out a little faster than normal because I was running alone, and I went through the first mile in 7:22. After that I settled into a pace around 7:00/mile and I held that through about 7 miles. At this point I glanced behind me and I noticed a couple on a date. They were on bikes and were coming up on me fairly quickly. It kind of annoyed me that they were coming up on me so quick when usually couples on dates ride slowly. So, I decided to show them who was boss and I started to speed up. Now, my intention was never really to out run them, simply to go the same speed as them, however the guy noticed that I was starting to speed up near the marker at 7.1 miles and he sped up a little more. I decided to take the challenge and speed up even more if they were going to speed up, so about 200m past the mile marker at 7.1 right after the couple went by me I sped up more. I went through the first 1/2 mile in 2:37 with the first 200 being the only real difference between a 2:33 and a 2:37. At this point I could tell that the girl was having trouble keeping pace with her date who kept looking back at me to see if they had dropped me yet. At this point I also figured that I was creeping them out so I decided to hang on for another 1/2 mile and then slow down to at least spare the guys date so he wouldn't kill her trying to drop me. I went through the next quarter in 1:16 followed by a 1:17 which would have been one second faster except I started anticipating slowing down and I started slowing down early. This gave me a 2:33 for the half mile and a 5:10 mile with the first 200m being the slowest. Once I slowed down I averaged about 6:40 pace for the last 3 miles until I got to my house. After 1 mile of this I saw the bike couple again. I think the girl was tired from riding faster so they had slowed down and I was catching up to them again. However, the guy saw me when they went under the bridge and he motioned for his date to speed up again. They sped up, but only slightly faster than 6:40 pace so I could see them just a little ways in front of me until I turned off to head home. I thought the entire ordeal was rather amusing. It made my run more entertaining. however, I better not do it very often or I will kill myself pretty quick.
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