EASIER THAN I THOUGHT

Well it turns out Scott is alive and well, and probably tan. He was in Mexico. We should be able to resume our Friday morning runs next week.

I ended up running 6 miles last night instead of 7, no big deal. I had forgotten how dangerous running during rush hour can be. When you combine the traffic with the darkness, all while the snow that melted during the day is re-freezeing into ice, it can make for a tricky run. No casualties, but I had to be more cautious than usual.

Coming at the end of a long week, I thought today's long run might be a struggle. However, it was much easier than I thought. My legs felt really good and I wasn't psyched out about the duration or the distance. I just laced up my shoes and put the time in.

During the run there were 3 different sections where I was able to check my pace. From miles 3.5 to 5, I was right at 8 minute pace. I was a little surprised because I don't normally run that fast, especially during a long run. Then from miles 7 to 10 I was just a shade over 8 minute pace. I was thinking about picking up the pace from 14 to 18, however the first 3 miles of that stretch turned out to be into a moderate wind. Even with the wind I was able to run 8:05 pace. Still feeling pretty good I decided to add on another mile and finishing the day with 19 miles. That gave me a new all-time high of 95 miles for the week.

Now I'm sure you wouldn't think someone who'd be happy to run 6:40 pace for the marathon would be excited about running 8:00-8:05 pace for a 19 mile run, but I am. That's probably 10-15 seconds faster per mile than I normally run my long runs. More importantly, it felt very controlled. It seemed like I was just turning my legs over quicker without any affect on my breathing whatsoever. Plus, I'm pleased with how my legs felt as I bumped my weekly high from 88 to 95.