I was prepared for the cold this morning. I was expecting 28 degrees but was pleasantly surprised with 30 degrees (those 2 degrees mean a lot at least psychologically). I dressed warm (long pants, two shirts, hat and gloves) and headed out expecting to feel cold. But it wasn't that bad. I left my neighborhood and ran onto 54 and then up the bike trail along Starkey Blvd. and then back home. Pace went from 8:50 at the beginning and gradually got faster. For the return trip, I decided to pick the pace instead of letting my body pick. It is interesting because I decided to try and get between 7:50 and 8:00 for the pace, which was just a little faster than what I had been running, but once I was trying to run a particular pace on purpose it felt much easier - even though the old pace and new pace were both in the "easy" range. For some reason the slightly faster but deliberately chosen pace felt easier, it could have been coincidence or it could have been something else, maybe I was feeling more in control. The other strange thing is that the new "easy" pace seemed to get faster on its own, so I just decided I'd go with whatever the pace came out to unless I went slower than 8:00. Then the run felt really easy and I was going at a faster pace. I felt great and hoped I could feel this good on all of my runs. Average pace: 7:53 (average pace for first 4 miles, about 8:30)
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