Ahhhhhhhh

Great morning for a long run. Started out a little after 5 am to get in 5 miles before the fellas showed up. Back out to Spain Hill. Couldn't find out how much that property went for at auction. Surprised to see the fast guys pulling into the parking lot. They had a workout mixed into their long run and went the other direction. Temps were in the low 50's and a fog in the air.

I was only able to hang with the guys for a couple of miles. It was nice to have them pull me out of my slog. My first 5 miles were at a 8:50 average. The guys were cruising up the hills after a couple of miles at 7:30 pace or better. Let them go and settled into a comfy, honest pace. They were a good carrot but I lost sight of them after a couple of miles.

Carried some water, but no gels or Succeed caps for this run. Felt really good, but couldn't really seem to pick up the pace on the downhills. Overall pace for the 16 miles was 8:34. Nice negative split and I felt really good in the last few miles home. P man did help pull me home for the last mile as he came back out to add on some more miles.

Only saw one deer and that wasn't until I was almost home. She bolted across the road directly in front of me. Kinda strange, but the hunters were out in force. Never did see them, but heard shots for the last several miles. Think it's dove season. Couple of other runners out as I was stretching afterwards. The fog did provide some really cool effects for some great magazine cover shots. One that really stood out was the guys heading up a hill framed by the road and trees with the sun behind them and the fog as well. Kodak moment, that's what makes being a runner so special.

Big difference in elevation on Strava versus Garmin training center. Strava shows the run at 914 feet of gain and the training center 2,464 feet. More inclined to believe the Strava data.