Twilight Zone

Something weird is going on. Before today's run I told myself I would hammer 3-miles, no matter what issues arouse. Secretly, I set 5-miles as a goal. The bottom line was this: Listen to my body and run until I felt the need to stop.

At 7:30 pm I took off in my subdivision (concrete surface), pushing Alison in her jogging stroller. I started 30 minutes before sunset. The temperature was nice, but it was very windy. I accepted the wind as my friend even though it made the stroller canopy into a parachute. During the entire run, I was in some kind of "ZONE". I felt strong. Nothing hurt. At the 4 mile mark, I was wondering if my garmin 205 was shorting out from all the sweat. I truly felt I had only run two miles, MAYBE three miles, but not four! After accepting the 4-mile mark as accurate I looked up and I was within a few hundred yards of 5 miles. I couldn't decide to stop or keep running (five miles was very close to my house). Before I made a definite decision, I realized my house was a 1/4 mile BEHIND me.
I only stopped once the entire night and that was when our blinking LED light hit the ground. I finally decided to stop at 6 miles. I stopped not because I was tired, but it was getting late and Alison had been in the stroller for a hour. She fell asleep reading her books within twenty minutes. I know I could have done 2-3 more miles. Oh well, I'll never be able to prove it.

I felt better tonight than I have ever felt at 6 miles. The pace was nothing to brag about, but you have to love six stress-free miles. Earlier in the day I did upper and mid-body weight training. Motivation to start the weight training session was challenging.

I have a long run scheduled for Sunday. I only hope to experience this utopia again. Since I stopped early I should have enough fuel in my tank for an 8-miler. With those thoughts, I ended an excellent day of running.

Notice the 0:14 second spread among the laps. I'm not sure if that is good. One thing is for sure, they are consistent.

Activity: Easy Run
Mileage: 6.05 Miles
Time: 1:09:44 - (11:32 pace)
Splits:
11:35
11:26
11:34
11:40
11:31
11:26
0:32 - 0.05 mile
Location: Woodland Pine Subdivision
How I Felt: 10+

Activity: Weight Training
Body Region: Upper and Mid-body
Time: 1-hour
Location: Home Gym
How I felt: 9