It's Dark at 6:00 am

The St Croix Runners meet every Saturday morning, 7:00 am, at the Northland Tennis Courts on west Myrtle, and run five miles together. More or less together. There is a route from my house to Northland that is 7.6 miles long. So this morning I started in the 6:00 am darkness, ran through the sunrise to Northland, ran with the group, and ran home again. 20.2 miles total. Best of all, friend Jim joined in at about mile 2.5 and peeled off again at 17.5, so we ran together most of the way.

Beautiful morning, 30-35 degrees with a bright red sunrise and then a warming sun. Tights, one LS shirt, and a wind jacket. Wind was not an issue, though. On return Lake Woebegone was still a mirror, with the upside-down trees just as clear as the right-side-up ones on the opposite shore. Ducks, geese, wild turkeys, deer, and lots of bunnies.

Time 3:08:45, for a 9:21 pace overall. But I stopped several times, each for two or three minutes, and didn’t stop the watch, so I think our pace was easily better than 9:00 whenever we were running. The last mile was somewhat faster at 8:13, and I think there was more where that came from. At least I hope so, because this was the last long run before the upcoming marathon, which I will try to run at an overall pace of about 8:35. Slight pain in the left knee for the first three miles, but it subsided when I moved to the right side of the road for a while. It won’t be a problem. Some numbness in the right foot. Three gels enroute, and about 40 oz water.