17.7 miles @ 7:50 average pace including last 7.6 miles at 6:45 pace I did not manage to fall asleep until 12:00 last night and was feeling a bit tired when I woke up at 5:00 this morning. Met Dixie over at Longleaf about 5:40. David came by and grabbed our bags of stuff for after the run so we'd have dry things after the run. Started out nice and slow. The cooler weather we were having earlier this week was mostly gone but at least it was still below 80 degrees. Made it into the park and detoured off the trail to the restrooms. Outside the restrooms is a water faucet, but the water is of questionable quality and warm, but I was debating whether or not to top off my water bottles based on Jenny's experience last week finding no water available on the trail. Decided to take my chances. Continued on the main trail. Saw a turkey on the trail (I later found out was a female turkey) who did not want to get out of our way and refused to leave until we almost ran over her. I stopped to check out one of the water stops - mostly empty, continued on to the 4 mile point. There were some other runners who saw us heading to the water cooler - they said no water today or at the 5 mile spot. At this point I had about 9 oz of slightly warm accelerade on me but figured I could make due with that. Dixie turned around and found some other people to run with so he could get in 14 miles. I headed out a little bit further before starting to MP miles. Decided I would do the last 7 and not the last 8 miles to adjust for the weather and water. Got onto my pace and it didn't feel bad at all. The heat, the lack of water and the sun wasn't bothering me. It was a rare and cherished run where things just started to click. I finished the 7 miles at MP but still had a little ways to go to get to the parking lot, stayed on pace instead of slowing down, so ended up with 7.6 miles instead of the adjusted plan of 7 miles. Splits: 6:55, 6:40, 6:39, 6:40, 6:42, 6:45, 6:41, 0.6 @ 6:37 Hung out for a bit at the social hour. Carol had brought a big tub filled with ice blocks, water, and hand towels - very refreshing! The "blocks" of ice were actually more of a cylinder shape, so I asked Carol where she got the ice from, she made them using her grand kids beach buckets. I talked to Dixie about his run, and for the first time in several long runs he did not fade out at the end but finished the last 4 miles well under 8:00 pace. Got a ride back to my car from Paul, then headed home for stretching, some relaxing and a lot of cleaning before the family gets back this evening!
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