A Two Mile Warm-up??

"Things are okay with me these days" Billy Joel: Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

The weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow is saying we're going to get rain, sleet, freezing rain, a little snow...you get the idea. It will be too messy to run. So, today was a running day. I decided on my original 4 mile road course, because unfortunately sunset is so stinkin' early now that I didn't have time to run the Linear Trail. It was cold, 33 degrees, "feels like" 31 degrees, with the raw feeling you get in the air just before a winter storm. Fortunately the wind was calm. I set out, deciding that how I felt the first mile or so would determine my pace. I was sucking in cold air, and some of it smelled and tasted like the smell of someone burning wood in their fireplace. My neighbor's were keeping warm, and my lungs were paying the price. For the first time in a long time, it hurt a little to breathe while I ran. Up two hills, and down one, and I passed mile 1 at 8:30. Slower than I expected, but I was okay with it. It was, after all, 2 days after my all out effort in the 5K race, plus I was finally breathing cleaner air that wasn't hurting my lungs. Mile 2, my turnaround point, was just under 17 minutes. Again, no problem, at least my first two miles were consistant. As I headed back towards home, I was warm, breathing easily, and it was time for my gloves to come off. I always feel lighter without them. Stupid, I know, because they probably weigh a combined 5 ounces or so. Running was now, as it usually is, fun. It's relatively flat to mile 3, and I was surprised when I checked my watch and read "25:00." An 8 minute mile, after two 8:30 miles?! Well, the biggest surprise was yet to come, as I completed my run, and was stunned to see my finishing time of 32:38 (8:09/M), meaning my last mile was run in 7:38. Go figure! I guess it took me two miles instead of my customary one mile to warm up.