I'm kinda guessing at how far I ran tonight -- the Garmin quit before I even started, and I was trying to stretch a known 14-mile route by one mile in the dark. I got an estimate of 14.7 using mapmyrun, but the trail twists and turns much more than I can indicate on mapmyrun. so I'm gonna call it 15. What I can definitely call it is a very encouraging run. After a slow warmup, as I went along I felt stronger and stronger, and if I've ever gotten the infamous runner's high, it was tonight in the last four miles. The pace got very strong, maybe even sub-MP, the legs felt strong, the breathing was even and I was in sort of a zone. Final time for 14.7 or 15 or whatever, completely run by feel, was 2:12 according to the clock in my car. If it was a 15-miler, that's well under 9:00 for the whole run. At about the 7.8-mile mark, someone told me it was 7:25 -- an hour and 12 minutes after I started. I ran the last 7.2 miles in less than an hour -- darn near my GMP. As good a midweek run as I've ever had. I took two gels and plenty of water, and there was enough breeze that the temps in the mid-70s weren't much of an issue. All in all, especially considering the warm conditions, I'm very pleased with it. | 