12K

It was amazingly, gloriously gorgeous outside this morning. Sunny, with a temperature of 40F (4C) when I hit the Jordan River Trail at 8 am. I went 4K before meeting up with my friend Sue for another 8K. I've talked about Sue before I think...she's a friend from Team in Training and a very good runner. She's qualified for and run the Boston marathon and I really enjoy racewalking with her and chatting. She was a bit apprehensive about keeping up with me today, but she needn't have been - she was fine. She's been sick and hasn't been running much, so we did walk for a minute to give her a breather at 4K (8K for me).

Brief tangent - go look at Sue's artwork - she's very talented. I'm thinking of buying a couple of her paintings. I have one in my kitchen and love it, so now I "need" another one :).

Anyway, I felt great today until about 9k and then I still felt good but my legs were a little tired, probably because we had a nice fast pace going. We kept it up and I could have gone longer at that pace easily, but it was good to stop and save my energy for the 50K next Saturday. Wow...only 8 days left.

Total: 12K in 1:14:03 for 6:10/km (9:56/mile) with ave HR 141. Low HR for that speed :).

The taper always makes me feel weird. First I am glad to have some rest. Then I start to wonder if I'm getting out of shape from fewer miles. Intellectually I know that is not true, but you still have silly nagging doubts. Add in the holidays this time and having off work this week and I feel very well-rested. Good, but odd. I feel fidgety and nervous and just want to get it all over with already! But I'm also excited for the trip and looking forward to a good time.

Garmin connect data here.