Today was another tempo run. The goal was a bit more ambitious than my last tempo run. I wanted to do 8 miles at a 7:10 pace. I had some doubts as to whether I should do this or not as my right knee has been a little bit bothersome recently. When things are bothersome they either get better or it turns into a pain of some sort. I'm trying to stay away from the pain route. So, I figured I would run until there was any hint of a problem. Warmed up inside on the arc trainer for a bit then headed outside. Ran about 1.6 miles at an easy pace, took a power bar gel then started off on the tempo. First mile felt good and came in right around 7:00, miles 2 and 3 were also pretty good. I ran past the cross country team and said hi to the coach. At the end of Wyndtree I turned around and then ran past one of my running friends and said hi to her. Mile 4 was harder. It felt like I was putting out the same effort but my pace was slowing. I picked things up and finished that mile at 7:10. Now I thought about my knee, it still wasn't hurting which was good. I also thought that running just over 28 minutes at a tempo pace counts for something and it might be a good idea to come out ahead and slow down before my knee hurt at all. So, mile 5 was not run at a tempo pace but more of a regular pace (I'll have to check later what it was). I drank some accelerade which probably helped - I was carrying my new water belt which might be part of the reason for the need for extra effort in today's run. For mile 6 my pace had naturally picked back up to about a 7:30 pace. By mile 7, I was feeling good again and finished that mile at about 7:00. I slowed down then as there was just a little over a mile left to get in 10 miles which was my goal for total mileage for today. Backed down to about an 8:00 pace. There was one road to cross with a traffic light which was green for me if I hurried, so I picked up the pace to make the light. Momentum carried me back to close to the parking lot, finally slowed down with a little bit left to go for a cool down. The one big boost about today's run is that the average pace for the 10.2 miles was 7:34. I had to keep moving as I had a dentist appointment which I could just barely make if I took a very quick shower. Gycerin - 69.7 | 