10.75 miles - mostly slow with a few fast miles
Kevin, Wayne, and I ran up to Rock Pile then looped east on the Middle Earth trail which comes back along the fire road to the top of the water tank hills. We were just out to enjoy a trail hike/run together. We walked a lot of the uphill and ran the downhills easy. I think we all very much enjoyed the run, especially doing it together. With injuries, we've had fewer group runs than previous years.
Near the end, as we were coming back on the mostly level fire road, I decided to push the pace for a couple of miles. Wayne sent us ahead and Kevin came with me. The first mile was only at about 8:45 pace. After emptying my bladder, and my water bottle, and tying my long sleeve shirt around my waist, I felt much more comfortable and we ran the second mile in 8:07. My legs were aching from all the uphill and downhill earlier, but I decided to push for a third mile. Kevin had been hanging with me regardless of my pace. He stopped a couple of times briefly during the 3rd mile but caught me again both times. Finally I broke him (not my intention) and he let me go. I ran the last mile in 8:05.
It feels so good to be able to run hard again and push through exhaustion. I'm not quite sure why I enjoy that so much, it's kind of uncomfortable. I especially enjoyed being out with Kevin and Wayne. I missed Larry and Jo, who normally would have been with us. The weather was a little windy and, surprisingly for November, a little warm at times. It felt good to run in the mountains with my buddies. It felt good to stop. It was a great morning.
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