This morning was crisp and cool, as it has been on other mornings this week. Originally I was going to run with Joe, but he was not able to make it. I waited around a little bit and some others showed up. They were not going to run very far but I figured it would be nice to have some company at least part of the way. We started out running faster than what I am used to for the first few miles. It was actually a pace I would call easy if I was already warmed up. Between the cold weather and the faster starting pace my left shin on the outside got extremely tight as it often does. Bob and I stopped for some gatorade at about 3.75 miles. The short break was good for my shin. Bob headed back towards the Y and I continued on alone in the opposite direction. I slowed the pace until I could get rid of the tightness. I ran a few miles towards a neighborhood which has a 1 mile loop with hills. I did two loops through there and started feeling better. On the return trip the pace felt much easier - up until I had gone about 13 miles. At that point I started feeling a little bit worn down but not too bad. I continued on and before I knew it I was heading into the home stretch. Overall the run was a success even though it had a couple of rough patches. I didn't do lower body weights yesterday like I had done the week before, so I don't think that was the problem. I think I will do a short run next Friday and see if that helps. Splits were: 8:25, 7:53, 8:08, .739@8:44, 9:22, 9:10, .62@9:01, 8:46, 7:52, 8:31, 7:44, 7:43, 7:45, 7:33, 7:56, 7:59, 7:30 Average pace: 8:13 Glycerin
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