I did not get Thursday's 5 miler in, and was having mixed emotions about today's 14 miler. Last week's 13 miler went pretty good, so I was hoping for more of the same, especially since I had an extra rest day. But, 14 miles is a long way and a long time!
As I drove to Salem United Methodist Church to begin my run, I passed a few bicyclist. A tent was in the church parking lot for one of their "fuel" stations. The cyclist were on their way to Montgomery Bell State Park to conclude a week-long, 480 mile bike ride sponsored by Tennessee State Parks.
For some reason, seeing those bikes on the road, got me pumped up, even though we would not be on the same roads. I began my 14 mile journey by running Mile 1 in 8:12. The next 4 miles were also under 9:00. After 5 miles, my pace was at 8:32. I was thinking I could be last week's 9:15 pace for 13 miles. What was I thinking? Mile 6 - 9:21. Mile 7 - 9:38. It just kept getting worse. Miles 8-10 were 10:03, 10:14, and 10:41. And worse. Mile 11 - 13:55. And worse. Mile 12 - 18:12. It got so bad that I only ran 12 of the 14 scheduled miles. Actually, I only jogged 10.5 of the 12 and walked the last 1.5 miles. After starting so well, this was a major crash and burn. My total time for the 12 miles ended at 2:04:44, a 10:24 pace.
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