A Tale of Two Runs (all in one)

I woke up early again today and went to Mike's house for an early run. We decided that since I was "under the weather" a lot this week, that we would only do a single looper (11.6 miles) and hat he would run with me. I would try to pick up the pace from the last 2 slower long runs and compromise in the middle. We started at 6:45, about 30 minutes before sunrise and it was cold, about 20F out. So for the first time this season, I brought out the running tights for the run. I don't have anything against running tights, I just prefer to run in shorts down to about 25F.

It was just Mike & I out there and we started out slower and were going to pick it up about halfway. Miles 1 & 2 were close to 8:40 pace then we slowed a bit as we took a short walk break and hit the first couple hills. Miles 3, 4, 5, & 6 were just under 9:00 pace as we warmed our bodies up and got into a rhythm. By mile 6, we were averaging 8:51 pace and now had a bunch of medium hills ahead of us and I tried to pick up the pace just as I said I would try. This was the first of the two runs on this single run.

Mile 7 started out good. We picked it up and dropped it to an 8:18. Mile 8 was an 8:11. Then without my knowing, we picked it up even more. Miles 9 through 11 were 7:43, 7:30, & 7:29. And these included a larger hill we trucked up pretty good.

Running with Mike is a little different that running with some of my other friends. Since he is a faster runner than I am, he likes to run a few steps ahead of me or sometimes just 1 step. After a bit, I would catch up to him and stride right next to him and then he would speed up and retake that step or 2. Sometimes it bothers me. It is like, "Are you running with me or not?" and then sometimes I like it because it makes me pick up my game and gives me a great workout even though it is just a regular run to him. He did this to me a lot over the last 0.6 miles as we finished at 6:55 pace for that short distance.

All in all it was a pretty good 11.6 miles this morning. I averaged 8:19 pace for the hilly miles which was good. I really liked the last 5 miles even more. It was a confidence booster run today. My lunges were still crappy from the junk still in there so that made it feel good to overcome that. It was also nice to get out there in the cold. I know my friend Chris ran his run this morning inside at the Pettit Center and I want to avoid there as long as I can. I will have to go there a lot I am sure this winter but not this week.