I was proud of today's run because it was one of those where you have to do something different, something out of the routine. These always make me feel good once I have finished them. Jenny was going to run a 5K this morning with two of her friends at 8:00 at Fred Howard park (where the Beach to Bayou 5K was that I ran in April). She was going to bring the kids with her and then I would meet them at 7:30 so I could watch the kids and cheer her and her friends on. So, the best plan I could come up with was to run in that area before the 5K. I had scheduled myself for 16 miles. I usually don't run in that area and wasn't familiar with the running routes there. So, I planned out a course as best I could and aimed to get there at 5:00. Alarm clock at 4:15 wasn't so bad. I got moving and headed over there arriving just after 5:00. The gates to the park were locked so I found a school nearby to park at. Fortunately the moon was pretty bright and there were some street lights on the roads. Warmed up and stretched a little bit and was on my way. First mile was 9:36 - it felt faster because it always seems faster when I run in the dark, next 3 miles were right around 9:00. The 5th mile I was starting to move a little bit faster. By this time I was on the Pinellas trail - a bike path that used to be railroad tracks. I came up to a tunnel that went under the road, it was pitch black inside so I attempted to go up and over it at first but that didn't work out, so I went through it and it wasn't too bad except for the middle where it was pretty much pitch black. So, my initial fear of the tunnel slowed me down a little bit to a 9:20 for the 5th mile. Kept on going and my pace started feeling better. I finally passed one runner and then a little bit later a biker. Just after 7.6 miles, I turned around. Since my trip out was a little bit slow I didn't want to count on being faster on the return trip and risk being late for meeting Jenny. The return trip was faster and it slowly got lighter out. It was a beautiful morning for running. I got back to the car just after 7:20. I didn't quite have my 16 miles but I didn't want to risk being later and I figured I'd still have about the same mileage for the week. Splits were: 9:36, 9:01, 8:56, 8:58, 9:20, 8:38, 8:06, 8:13, 8:08, 8:13, 8:08, 7:55, 7:51, 7:52, 7:54, 7:36, 7:38, 0.52@8:04 I met up with Jenny and watched the kids while they played. Jenny and her friends had a great 5K - it was both of her friends first 5K. | 