I planned on doing 10 today, then when I realized at about mile 7 that I would be going over 10, I decided to make it a round 11 instead of 10.something. I started relatively slow (I think around 9:21, but my garmin didn't pick up a satellite right away, so I had to guess a little) and then hovered around or under 9 minute pace for the next several miles. Around mile 4 a little dog followed me for a couple minutes, barking like crazy. I wasn't scared of him, but I was scared for him if he was going to follow me, so I tried to chase him home. I couldn't exactly figure out which house he came from, though, and I chased him back once only to have him follow me again. Finally I backtracked to where I thought he came from and rang the doorbell. No one answered, but the dog stayed on the porch and didn't follow me again. Then I tried to pick up the pace for the next few miles, just to about 8:50. Mile 9 and 10 were a bit under 8:30 and mile 11 (my bonus mile) was a slower cool down (about 9:20, right where I had started). While it wasn't as fast as it was supposed to be (I was shooting for 8:45 average), I also wasn't working that hard. Pace felt good. The wind was pretty fierce. This time I didn't overdress. When I first left the house I thought I was under-dressed (shorts and two long-sleeved t shirts). But wearing gloves and an ear band helped keep me warm. It was probably somewhere slightly under 50 degrees, but I was glad I just went for shorts.
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