Ah… I’m back, and my feet have that nice warm “I’ve been running” feeling. We did 9.2 miles today in 1:38 or so including breaks - which was pretty fast for me, at least historically. Felt really nice, though. We headed West down the trail, got to the MoPac footbridge and turned South to the nature center - which was closed. Ah, well. That kept the run at 9.2 instead of 9.5. Turned around, back down the driveway and across the bridge, right past the RunTex Unimog, and over to Deep Eddy. Turned right, and headed up a very annoying hill at about mile 4; short but steep. Up to Mangia Pizza, then left and out past Mozart’s to the boat dock. By Mozart’s I had moved into the front row, because Anthony was setting the pace a little too slow for me, and it felt really nice to be there. Good to be able to be there too, if you know what I mean.

We rested for a few minutes there, they had a water fountain and some bathroom facilities, and then headed back East. I got to set pace for most of the way back, and probably went a little hot for some people, but everyone was doing fine so maybe it was a good thing - we didn’t need to be poking along the way that we were. Anyway, another drink stop at the Unimog, then back for the last 2.5 miles. After our final walk break a mile later, a couple of us just picked up the pace and ran the last 1.5 at around a 9:30 pace (very approximately). That was a blast! Still had enough in me, even after 9.2 miles, to lope ahead to the finish without feeling dead at the end.

I had tried BodyGlide for the first time, and it worked pretty well. I missed a couple of spots, but my thighs felt much better than they did on my last 10 miler without it. The new shoes were a tiny bit stiff, but loosened up wonderfully - my toes are a little tender, but I think that that’s because of the old blister being rubbed, and not from the new shoes. Wearing them was better, I think, than wearing my old pair one last time.

On a more introspective note, its days like today when I can really see, and be impressed by, the transformation that’s hit me body and mind since I started on this fitness kick. Go me!

Calories: 100 (1 GU)
Calories burned: about 1,260.

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