I can't complain at all about today's run. The air was a little bit drier and cooler than it had been, overall a pretty nice morning for running. I arrived at the Suncoast parkway bike parking lot a little after 5:30, warmed up a little bit and got moving about 5:45. I started out at a fairly easy pace. One thing that was slightly odd was how dark it was. The beginning of the run had some lights because it is near a parkway exit, but once those lights end there is only light from the occasional passing by vehicle, whose lights make everything bright and blind me for a bit then my eyes have to readjust. When there were no lights it was just really dark. The sky was clear, so the stars were out but the moon was not out. I did run into some low lying fog patches here and there. I ran just past the Starkey park trail head to a water station but did not stop there but would on the way back. I then backtracked a little and went into Starkey park. It was still dark. Whenever I have run this route in the past it is usually always light by the time I get to this point, maybe I just got an earlier than usual start today. Anyway, kept on going, now about halfway to the turn around point. The landscape here is pretty open with palmetto and some scattered pine trees, but there is a section I call "the tunnel" which is thick section of trees - always a welcome section on a hot day. But this morning it felt creepy, light was starting to come up on the horizon in the east but I was running to the west. But once I was through "the tunnel" it finally started to lighten up and it started to look like a very beautiful morning out. Just before 10 miles, I ran into Eudair who was starting her run. I hadn't seen her since before the San Diego marathon when we ran 12 together. We ran together for a bit before she split off onto a different trail. Now I was past 10 miles and felt I was now on my way home. My pace picked up a little bit here and there and I began clicking off the miles. I got back to the end of the Starkey park trail then turned left onto the Suncoast trail and ran to the water stop where I refilled my nearly empty bottles with fresh cold water. I got going again and after a short time, I noticed my garmin had lost its signal - I'm not sure how long it was gone. I fiddled with it a bit and eventually got it back. When I finished that mile it said 9:55 (the previous mile was 7:32). Oh well, now just 4 miles left to go. The last 4 went pretty well. It was starting to get warmer but it didn't matter since I was almost done. The last 2 were at 7:13 and 7:15 which got me back exactly to the parking lot. I felt good today and it almost felt like 20 was "no big deal", but actually it still is. Avaerage pace: 8:05
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