Chad's Runs

10 miles.  I still don't have the charge for my Garmin so I ran blind this morning.  But I felt stronger and faster than I have in a long time.  I started off slow.  It always takes more than a mile to warm up at 5am.  I continued to take it easy until about 6 miles, then I picked up the pace and ran hard without slowing for the next 4 miles.  I'd love to know my splits, but watch to tell me.  I bet most, if not all 4 or those miles were under 8:00.

 I added some pictures of my run in Illinois.

http://dcbailey.fastrunningblog.com/blog-07-08-2010.html 

10 more at 5am again.  It felt good.  My average pace was 8:39.  Much faster than Monday even though I couldn't match the speed on my last 4 miles that I did on Monday.  The moon was behind the clouds so it was pretty dark.  As I passed the wetlands/pond by my place there were some strange calls that sounded somewhat like a sick cow and they came from several different places so it was definitely some kind of animal.  Almost everything in that swamp is a bird with the occasional muskrat or beaver.  What made that sound?  Is that the sound that pelicans make?  I see them there all the time but I've never actually heard one.

Average Pace 9:26.

 Splits:

9:34, 9:18, 9:21, 9:03, 9:02, 8:58, 9:04, 8:52. 8:58, 8:57, 8:50, 8:52, 9:35, 9:11, 9:54, 9:51, 11:59, 10:21 

 I haven't ran 18 since I ran the Salt Lake Marathon last year.  I'm pretty tired with various blisters on my feet, but that goes with the territory.  I ran 3 out and 3 back, got a gel and a drink, went out and did it again, then did it a third time.  I din't want to carry that heavy fuel belt with more than a quart of liquid.  Those stops really mess up your groove.  I had a good 9:00 groove going after the first six and then getting started up again was a chore.  I did and made up the time that mile.  I had a bit fast groove going through twelve and the took that break.  I never recovered from the break.  That sounds strange.  I wonder when I would have slowed down had I not taken a break or just took a little water and gel and kept running.  I felt fine after twelve but felt heavy and weak when I started 13.  Who knew?