I had none of my usual Saturday long run stress that I often have. I was only going to do 10 miles today - compared to the usual 14-16 that I have been doing for the past 8 weeks and what is coming up in the next 3 weeks. So, I decided to enjoy it while I could. I slept until 5:30 instead of the typical 5:00 for Saturday and last night we went out to dinner with Friends. It was nice and cool at 73° with a little bit of fog. As a bonus, Joe G. (my fellow Jacksonville and Boston runner) was there for the first time in a while. When I got to Starkey, I saw some people starting out on their run and said hi to Alex, Andrea and Keisha (only later to find out that Keisha was not there this weekend but was secretly replaced by a new girl named Val who happened to look very similar to Keisha - someone else made that mistake, too). I headed out with Joe and we took it nice and easy for the first 3 miles and built up to an 8:11 for the 4th mile. Took a quick stop for water and a gel at the 4 mile stop then continued on picking up the pace. Stopped briefly at 6 miles after turning around (just quick enough to grab one cup of water, drinking it at race pace). Joe sent me ahead where I caught up with David and Bob. Ran with David for 2 miles where he really challenged the pace and according to my Garmin we hit 6:31 and 6:43, although actual pace was a little slower but not terribly (more on that later). Did the last two miles by myself with Garmin reporting even faster splits of 6:31 and 5:59, and then a brief cool down onto the trail. The last "4 miles" turned out to be 3.8 miles. So, with the adjusted pace that averages out to 6:46 for the last 3.8 miles, so I'll stick take that. I felt pretty fresh maybe due to the consistent 8 milers during the week. Spent some time at social hour where I introduced myself to Keisha's impostor Val and also said hi to a couple of my neighbors that I have seen around the neighborhood and at races. Headed back home and later went to Thomas's belt test at Tae Kwon Do where he successfully passed it for his blue belt, a great accomplishment for him!
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