I needed to be home by 8:00am so I started my 18 mile run this morning at 5:00am. The weather was in the 40's, but there was a strong cold wind coming from the NW which made it feel colder. I ran a 6 mile loop up through Lindon three times. I ran the first loop alone. I averaged around a 9:00 pace. I got off my planned course a little and ended up running a little over 6 miles. I was supposed to meet Kevin and Larry back at the corner for the second loop. I didn't see them as I went by and didn't dare stop as I barely made it around the corner and up the street to my house in time for an urgently needed bio break. I also took an eGel, got a drink, and changed my sweaty shirt. I began to sweat like a pig when I entered my house and I didn't want to go back into the cold wind with a wet shirt. I headed back to the corner and saw them walking up the other way. It turns out they had followed to my house and waited a while, but then began to question whether it was really me they had seen go past in the dark. Luckily, because of the chilly wind, Kevin had went back for his vest. I met them as they were returning from Kevin's house. The three of us ran the second loop together. I had enjoyed the solitude of running the first loop alone, but now I was beginning to tire and it was good to have their company. We averaged about a 9:00 pace for the second loop, too. Larry's wife Jolene wanted to run 6 miles so Larry went to check if she wanted to run the last loop with us. She wasn't quite ready, and Larry needed a bio break, so he said they would run the loop backwards and meet up with us. After Kevin and I refueled, we added a little distance to the last loop by taking a different course out of the neighborhood. Since it was lighter now, we also decided to run along the canal road as it paralleled our course. At one point Kevin insisted that we leave the canal road and run up and back down a hill portion that we were bypassing. We got back on the canal road and met up with Larry just as we exited that portion of the canal road. We then continued the loop, meaning Larry and Jolene doubled back the way they had just come. As we neared home I was pretty tired and had to lock into a rhythm to keep my pace up. This caused me to pull slightly ahead. I figured once they hit a good stopping point in the conversation Kevin would be pushing to catch up with me. I was right. I was about a half mile into the last mile, averaging about an 8:15 pace, when Kevin caught me. Since we had averaged about a 9:00 pace most of the way, I felt like I was doing pretty good. As usual, running with Kevin somehow caused the pace to increase significantly and we ended up averaging a 7:39 pace for that last mile, meaning we were going even faster than that the last 1/2 mile. It felt good to have some juice left at the end of an 18 mile run. I averaged just under a 9:00 pace for the 18.35 miles. My legs were pretty tired the rest of the day, but overall I felt very good and have no new pains to speak of. It was a good long run for me. | 