Hot and humid, but wonderful morning in Starkey Park. 16.1 miles @ 7:45 average pace. Arrived just after 6:00, started running just after 6:15. Set out with a good sized crowd, Dixie, Eudair, David, Dianne, Keisha and many others. A few people turned around at the 4 mile point and then several of us continued on to the end of the trail (about 6.5 miles out). I was taking it easy and mainly hanging out in the back of the group on the run out. The morning's weather started out at 77 degrees and some place in the high 90's for humidity. At the end of the trail I said good bye to the others and continued on for another 1.5 miles to go out for a total of 8 and then turned around. Stopped briefly just before entering back into Starkey, then at 6 miles decided I'd go ahead and give some (goal) marathon pace miles a try despite the warm weather. It would be a good test but I knew I might have to back off the pace if it didn't feel right. Surprisingly, I didn't have a problem getting on to pace (sometimes this is one of the biggest struggles). I held up pretty well the first mile and even into the second mile. But the heat was getting to me, so when I got near the water stop at 4 miles I decided to break up the run. Stopped briefly, and then decided I'd go easy for at least a mile and then see how things went. By easy, I meant I would at least try to hold onto an 8:00 pace. I'm not sure if it was the faster miles I had just done or what, but I found myself at a faster pace than what I expected, and I felt a lot more relaxed. It wasn't the 6:52's I was hoping for but it was a 7:17, followed by 7:06, and 7:07. Then with one mile left I found whatever I had left over and finished that mile at 6:46. And that was about all I had. Average pace: 7:45 It was Keisha's last day running with us for a while as she is moving so they had one of they giant cookies and a photo album for her as well as the usual assortment of goodies, such as nice cold fresh watermelon from Dixie (who finally has his Fast Running Blog up and running now) and Carol's delicious, cheerio, peanut butter and honey bars. 68 miles for the week!
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