18.04 mi, 2:35:09, 8:36 avg
I started out at Longleaf at about 5:30 with Jamie and Cynthia. I felt good at the start of the run, usually I feel slow and clunky for the first few miles. I actually didn't sleep too well last night. When I came home for work I had a Baja Blast Mountain Dew with dinner - I don't drink very much soda and can't remember the last time I had a Mountain Dew (a Dr. Pepper now and then is more likely). By about 10:30 I felt too jittery, went to bed had some trouble falling alseep and woke up a few times. Didn't feel tired when I woke up and felt like I was already warmed up.
Anyway, kept the pace pretty easy but I kept finding myself in front of the group. Picked up Renee and Craig and Diane's house (which is also Craig's house), ran into Starkey Park for a bit until we got to the power lines and then turned back.
On the way back, with about a mile to go to get out of the park I told everyone we should do indian drills. They reluctantly agreed be we kept on it for about a mile and a half and was kind of fun.
At about mile 13.5 I stopped and stretched briefly while Cynthia ran ahead. Got going again and picked up the pace and was able to focus on her in the distance until catching back up and passing her. Mile 14 was 8:02, and then the last 4 miles were 7:04, 6:54, 7:16, and 6:56.
So, although a good part of the run was at an easy pace (bonus that it also felt easy), had a pretty good fast finish.
It was a relatively cool morning at the start but pretty warm at the end.
Had a chance to have coffee with several other runners at Havana Dreamers, then headed home and cooled off in the pool.
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