Kinda Long Run

I'm just in from my long run this morning. In the winter I really do love sitting down to blog after my long runs. When it is sunny, the light is streaming in through the window warming up my seat, and my room. I have my cup of hot coffee, some good tunes, and the weekend ahead of me. All of this along with the fact that I have finished my long run for the week just puts me in a great mood.

I lead the Philly Runner group run this morning so I got down there early to put in a few miles beforehand. A 6.5 mile loop from Lloyd Hall up into Fairmount Park over South Georges Hill and back. The wind was bitter cold on the way out but felt great at my back on the return. I took my iPod along for this portion of the run to keep my ears warm and to keep me company.

I got to the Art Museum around 9:20 and chatted with all of the runners meeting up for the group run. Despite the cold weather over the past month and half we have been getting great turn outs to the morning runs. This is an excellent sign for the group, I can only imagine how many people were gonna see out there in May when the weather really gets nice.

Ben, Kev G, british guy who was in town for the day, and DC guy who was in town for the weekend started off together at the front and we fell into a 7:10 pace. This continued up West River drive into a fairly brutal head wind. When the wind is this bad on West River I can take solace in the fact that the same wind will be at my back on Kelly drive, that's about the only plus.

I like running with new people and out-of-towners. You get to roll through the normal barrage of questions including, where are you from, what do you do, do you race, what's it like there? This took up a lot of conversation and I found out British guy was an Iron Man many times over. I was kind of surprised, from his look I had him pegged as a runner only.

Once we crossed the Falls Bridge the pace really started to pick up. In the back of my mind before starting the run I was thinking about a fast finish if my legs felt up to it and my legs felt great, plus I had some company so things sped up. The last 4 miles got increasingly faster 6:40, 6:35, 6:32, 6:29. I felt great the entire way. I couldn't believe we were at 6:40 pace when I looked down at my watch. In fact, it felt very conversational. I gave a good kick to finish things up, and I really felt as if I could have gone 5 more at the same pace. 15 miles in 1:46.

Despite the higher mileage this week my legs feel quite good and I have been surprising myself with quicker than expected miles often lately. I can't wait till the Caesar Rodney half to see what I can do. With a little luck, good weather, and a good day I hope to hit a big PR.