Didn't expect too much when I started this morning's run with the Crackheads -- and the Crackheads were out in force; I estimate maybe 300 people out there. My legs felt really heavy. Which probably worked out in my favor, since there was no chance of going out too fast. Just set out at what felt like a really slow, plodding pace -- which turned out to be about 9:40 to 9:45 (I remember when a 9:40 run felt like a sprint). And I just kept plodding, down the river trail, through Burns Park, across the freeway on the Funland loop, back through the soccer fields, and down the trail to the skate park.
After the turnaround at the skate park, I started a game. It was called Pass As Many People As You Can. I don't know if the people I was passing were running 18, 10, 5, or just happened to be out there at the same time as us Crackheads. Didn't matter. I just kept picking them off. I probably passed 30 or 40 people, got passed by zero. Got back to the surgical hospital in 2:50 for exactly 18 miles. Definitely the best run I've ever had on that particular run, where I have had some problems in the past. I would not have been happy if this was a race, but for a training run 16 weeks out, it went really well. | 