I decided to get in 20 miles this morning in preparation for the Utah Valley Marathon in three weeks. I decided to start at the lake and run the Provo River Trail up to the mouth of Provo Canyon and back. Larry and Wayne met me at the mouth of the canyon and ran the last 10 miles with me. Kevin was with us for a while but had to run shorter so he could get back for soccer games. It was still quite dark when I started a little after 6:30am. I almost bumped into another runner just as I started. I was surprised to pass a number of runners in the dark near the beginning of my run. There was even one large group of young men runners, probably some school team. It was too dark to see if they were high school or college age. It was fun listening to the frogs, ducks, and birds in the pre-dawn light as I ran along the river and a swamp. The weather wasn't too cold, at least until about mile 6 when I came up on University Avenue. I could suddenly see my breath, and my ears got cold. When I met up with Larry he said it was 24' when they left. It was 30' when I started 1.5 hours earlier. The sun didn't come up until two hours into the run, and it never did get warm enough for me to unzip my vest or take off my gloves. I had expected it to be a little warmer. I felt good most of the run, but the end of the run felt like...well...like the end of a 20 mile run. It was really good to have Larry and Wayne along. 20.2 miles in 2:57:32 (8:47/mi) Up: 9:11, 8:50, 9:04, 8:54, 9:46, 9:08, 8:46, 8:45, 9:05, 9:48 Back: 7:56, 8:11, 8:46, 8:08, 8:26, 8:53, 9:04, 9:09, 8:49, 7:02 0.2 @ 7:44/mi
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