14.00 miles in 2:01:40

connect.garmin.com/activity/123439057

i got to sleep in this morning. it was awesome! when i finally rolled out of bed at 6:00, my legs were ready to go. i got ready quickly and hit the streets running. i ran north to the cemetery and then ran east across highway 61 and out into the dark countryside. i wanted to get a little running on sand in before next week's half marathon in haviland. nearly half of that course is on sand or dirt roads. today's two or three miles on that surface gave me no problems. hope that is true next week.

i hit highway 54 and ran along it until the turn off for the county lake. i ran down the hill to the turn and then turned west. i hit 10K at 52:12 and kept going. the one-hour mark passed just about the time i was climbing the nasty hill on lake road. that was about the time that i first saw a pace over 9:00. i just had to take the incline a little slower.

i made it over the top and ran down to highway 281 which i took into town. as soon as i crossed the bridge, i turned east and took a jaunt through lemon park. even though the surface was smooth and the terrain basically flat, i slowed again. my right hamstring was starting to whine and complain about its workload about this time. i did what i could to keep pushing, but there were many times that a glance at my garmin revealed a pace above 9:00. i gritted my teeth and kept on.

i left the park and started to slowly make my way back toward home. i ran through ninth street park and then ran back up and over the hill on sixth street to oak. i ran north on oak to 2nd and took 2nd east. from there the rest of the course is kind of a blur.

i hit the half marathon distance at 1:53:10! that means i only need to kill off 3:10 to meet my goal next saturday! woohoo! i kept running and hit 13.82 miles at the two-hour mark. i'd never been that close to 14 miles before, so i made my legs finish out the final .18 before i stopped. my half marathon time back in march was 2:04:15. i'm thankful to hal for the plan that's helped me and to God who gave me the will and the strength to accomplish what i've done. can't wait till race day to break that 1:50 barrier!