Start time: 07/23/05, 6:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 16 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 4:1
Average pace: 12:00min/mile

Phew! This was not a run that I was expecting to be tough. Starting with this run, all of the long distances are slowed down by a minute or two per mile (to prevent injury), so I figured that with the slowdown I’d be just fine, right? Right?

Ho ho ho.

It didn’t go badly, but it’s been a long while since I’ve had a long run that I genuinely had to work at towards the end. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing; I definitely took it way too easy last year, after all. But with the heat racketing up and the sun beating down, I felt like I really earned those last four miles or so. (Dear W&OD Trail: Get some more shade between markers 5 and 9. Please.) I ended up being pace group leader this week since Michael was out on a trip. It went really well, and with a little help from Craig and Julie we hit almost every single mile perfectly on time. That was really gratifying, needless to say. But now… well, it’s good to be inside. Hopefully the 18 and 20 milers won’t be quite so brutal in the weather department; it really makes all the difference in the world.

(And oh look, weather.com is predicting a high of 98 degrees* for Monday. I am so not running after work. Either first thing in the morning or in the evening at the gym, I think.)

* — No, not Nick Lachey’s former group.