Surprising myself

And this morning it was time to run. There was a fair bit of rain overnight, but just overcast and drying through the morning. Fine weather to run in. This was going to be my longest run of the year (I think), at 12 miles or so. I held a nice effort through the first five mile loop, and finished a bit under 40 minutes (like 0.2 seconds under 40), then kept the pace easy for a nice two-miler. Then I set out for another five mile loop. I had the right speed for much of the lap, a few times I found myself pushing a bit too much, but backed off and regathered myself. It wasn't the hills I was gunning, but some sections of the flats. Just overexcited, I guess. I felt pretty strong, although around nine miles in my ankle started to bug me, making descents and turns a bit of a chore, but you just have to nut up sometimes, so that's what I did. I brought it home in 36:57, which is somehow a new record. Things are falling into place, although I admit this was helped by the few "too hard" sections. I'll try this again in a couple of weeks to see if the improvements are for real.

Run: 12.58 miles, 40:00/16:35/36:57 (paces - 7:35/7:34/7:00)