Practice Run

Tonight, E and I did our final "long" run before the TC 10. It was scheduled to be an 8-miler, but I really, really wanted to try out the race course, so we decided to make it a 10. But we didn't get started very early, so we decided to skip the first 2 miles and make it an 8. But we took a wrong turn, missed a bridge and had to backtrack...so it ended up being an even 9.

I thought it was fantastic.

The weather was beautiful. Perhaps a titch hot, but you can't complain about warm weather in September or the weather karma will bite you in the ass and make it snow in October.

The trail was beautiful. We could hear the crunch of fall leaves under our feet. We could smell freshly mowed grass. We breathed in the fresh autumn air. A good chunk of the course is along the Mississippi River, so the scenery was gorgeous. Although I didn't notice it too much, as it was pretty damn dark. Note to self: It gets dark at about 7:20. We started running at 7:19.

The course is pretty hilly - it is pretty much all uphill - so it was nice to know that I can do the hills without dying. I know I could have run faster tonight, so I'm really unsure of what my race pace will be. Good thing I have two weeks to think it out.

Mile 1: 11:36
Mile 2: 11:23
Mile 3: 11:37
Mile 4: 11:55
Mile 5: 12:43
Mile 6: 12:25
Mile 7: 11:56
Mile 8: 12:34
Mile 9: 10:42

Average Pace: 11:56

The last four miles were on streets with stoplights, so we got caught at some red lights which messed up the splits a bit. I was happy to running slow - especially after Friday's crap run - perhaps that's why I enjoyed it so much.

Three words to describe this run: Delicious, Confident, Dark.