The Long Run

10 miles @ 8:15 pace with Jenny this morning.

We ran around the neighborhood, starting about 6:40.  She gets on pace faster than me, so I'm sort of trailing a few feet behind for the first mile.  Weather was nothing to complain about and after the warm up we both felt pretty good.  We hit some miles in the low 8's (which used to be her tempo pace,  but now is more her warmed up feeling good pace).

She finished her run at 7.5 miles and I continued on around another loop to try and get to 10 miles.  As I was getting back close to the house again she had two of the dogs out for a walk.  She handed me Sammy's leash and I tried to run with him but he was concerned about his "sister" Barbie and didn't want to run without her, so I turned back around, gave the leash back to Jenny and finished up my ten.  Walked back over to Jenny and the dogs and walked back to the house with them.

Jenny and I averaged an 8:30 pace together.  I ran the last two miles about a 7:15 pace to bring up the overall average to 8:15.

Nice and easy run this morning with Jenny and her friends Jenny and Cherise.  Ran through the neighborhood and over by the golf course.  Warm and humid as usual but nothing to complain about really.  We averaged 8:44 pace.  Jenny and the boys were off to Texas and had a 9:15 flight so we didn't have a lot of extra time.  

I got the job done, and felt pretty good.  Ran 4 miles of tempo, with goal pace of 6:43.  Started with about 2.5 mile warm up over to Starkey Blvd.  Tempo felt hard as usual and the goal pace was a slight bump up from last time but a shorter distance.  Here are the splits:

 6:40, 6:40, 6:35, 6:29

 Cooled down on the return trip.  Felt good to hit my splits.  On the cool-down I started to feel a little tired, then felt ok about it because I realized I had just done the last 0.75 miles at 7:05 pace but thought I was "dragging" at a much slower pace.

Average pace: 7:28

After work, and before heading out to dinner with customers, stopped by the local running store to get a new pair of shoes.  Wanted to try something lighter, so they suggested these shoes - the Brooks launch.  I went over to Longleaf this morning to run with this group at 5:30. Several people commented on my new shoes, probably because of the very loud color, hope these work out ok.

For most of the run I ran with Keisha and Alex, sticking with them for most of 6 miles.  I dropped off the bottle of water I was carrying then headed out for a little over 2 more miles.  I went faster for the last two miles and the shoes felt nice and light on my feet.

Average pace: 8:10

After socializing for a little bit, headed back home, swam for a few minutes then did the Inflict workout, which I had been thinking about skipping but did not really have a good reason for skipping it.  But before getting started, I kept on having to do things - pick things up, feed the fish, feed the older dog, let the dogs out and back in, water some plants, and feed the gerbil.  There's more that needs to be done but I had to get going to work at some point. Can't wait for Jenny and the boys to come home!

It was nice and cool this morning (weather underground says 74.9°) so the run felt really good.  For some reason, 75 degrees seems to be the threshold between cool and warm.  Today would have been a great day to do a tempo run but it was supposed to be easy day, so that's pretty much what I did.  Ran the loop around the neighborhood then headed out towards the golf course, to the last neighborhood out that way and then back.  One brief stop at the water fountain where I did not stop my watch.

Average pace: 7:43

No sleeping in tomorrow, wake up at 4:45 and driving up to the hilly section of the Suncoast trail.

Ran on the Suncoast trail, but went up to Brooksville where there are some hills.  The trailhead starts out next to a pedestrian bridge going over the road.  I didn't bring my phone on the run so I don't have any pictures of the actual hills but they were a pretty good mix of small and medium hills.  Originally, there were going to be three of us meeting this morning and running but that somehow turned into 9!  It definitely made the whole morning a fun adventure.  Jenny gave me a ride up to the trailhead along with two of her other running friends.  I waited outside my house to be ready at 5:15 and she was right on time.  We picked up one more person and arrived just before 6:00.

All 9 of us started out together.  It was still dark and the temperature was cooperating at 74°, although there was a bit of humidity.  We stuck together for the first mile then the group broke up into smaller groups.  First mile was at 9:20, second at 7:55, then the rest were between 7:42 and 7:05.  I actually looked at my pace very little while running and was looking more at the hills.  The thing I like about running on the hills at this trail is that it makes the run go by pretty quickly.  You see the hill, then you are at the bottom, then at the top, and then down the other side.   This seemed to cover around a half a mile, give or take depending on the hill.  Some were tiny rollers and others were more substantial.  There is no water on the trail except at the trailhead so we all had different water bottles and fuel belts with us.

With about 4 or 5 miles left, Eric starting pulling away.  At one point Mike told me not to let him hold me back, the funny thing was that I was thinking the exact same thing.  So, we pretty much stuck together with just a little bit of drift over the last mile.

It was nice to see the bridge at the end as I knew that was the end.  My legs were getting a little tired.  It was a good simulation of tired legs during a race but you keep going.  Last mile was at 7:05. 

Average pace: 7:37

Afterward, we hung out a little bit at the shelter and shared some snacks.  We hadn't really planned anything in detail but it turned out great and everyone seemed to enjoy the challenge and the change of scenery.

Victoria, Mike, Mark (me), Eric

Mike, Jenny, Eric, Jorge, and Laura