Another Great Day For a Run

62 degrees; splits 8:54; 8:40; 9:10; 8:31; 8:45; 8:34; 52:34 total for 6 miles; 8:45 per mile pace.

I made a deal with myself today. The deal was that I would drive to the Farmington Canal Linear Park, park, and run 3 1/2 miles on the road, and run the last 1 1/2 miles of my planned 5 mile run on the trail. Once again we had an unusually warm day, so shorts and a t-shirt were the proper attire. I chose to run on whatever roads looked appealing, and kept an eye on my Garmin Forerunner 305 so that my 3 1/2 mile point would be at the trail. That's the advantage of the Forerunner. I no longer have to plan ahead what route I'm running. I enjoyed running through neighborhoods that I had never seen before. People were out washing their cars, and children were out playing games and riding their bikes. I even passed by several runners. You certainly can't beat a freakish 62 degree day on March 8th. I felt pretty good during my street running, and as a result I kept exploring different streets. Fortunately I knew my way around, and at one point I ran part of another road course I have. As I passed mile 3, I started to realize that I wasn't going to be anywhere near the linear trail by mile 3 1/2 unless I circled back. I decided to push myself instead, and see if I could do a 6 mile run. Still feeling well, and adventurous, I incorporated a challenging hill into my run. It was more of a struggle than I had hoped, meaning I was sucking in wind, but I conquered it. A few more detours onto side streets, and I reached the 1 1/2 mile part of the linear trail at 4 1/2 miles...a perfect way to end a 6 mile run, since it is mostly flat. I started feeling like I had "lead legs" with about a mile and a quarter to go. However, lead legs or not, I was going to look good and strong to all the people on the trail! They would never know how tired I was really feeling as long as I was smiling, not making loud breathing noises,(Side note: Don't you HATE it when you're running in a race, and some guy near you is grunting loudly?!) and showing my "studly" running form(Not). Well, my psychological mumbo-jumbo worked, since my last mile was also my fastest mile. Yeah I know, it was run on a paved trail and not on the road, but so what?!! Overall, I'm excited about my overall time and distance. Maybe I WILL be able to run in the 10 mile race in 4 weeks. If so, my daughter will run with me and also enjoy the beer that will be a part of the post race party. I'm thinking the beer will help motivate me in my training this next month...