Another encouraging long run, despite racing a tough mile on the track yesterday. Ran the first 5 miles with a couple of friends I unintentionally met at the beginning of the trail. The early pace was nice and comfortable – not exactly goal pace, but too far off anyway. It made a pleasant change to run with company and the 5 miles went by very fast.
After a brief stop for water (hence the 8:37 sixth mile), I headed south on Atlantic Avenue to hit the boardwalk and run to the 10 mile turnaround point. I picked up the pace a little and ran 4 solid miles (7:13, 7:11, 7:26 and 7:18) before stopping again to tighten my shoelaces and drink more water (hence the 9:15 mile).
With 9 miles left to run and a nice breeze at my back, it was fairly easy to pick up the pace once more. Each of the remaining miles were in the low 7 minute range and I even managed to dip into the 6:50’s a couple of times.
The last couple of miles were tough, but manageable. My time for the 20.2 miles was 2:28:35 which equates to a 7 minute 21 seconds per mile average pace. Considering the slower early miles, I’m more than happy with the run and yet again find myself hoping for a confidence boosting track workout and tempo run.
6 weeks down, 10 to go….