Never take the same path...

Earlier this week I thought I was going to have time for a long run this morning. That was before I found out that I was going to be chauffeur for one daughter at 6:45 and for another daughter at 7:30. No time for 20 or 30 miles with that schedule! Oh, well! Another day perhaps. I still haven't had time for the longer runs I really want to get in before I run my 100-miler. We'll see what next week holds.

This morning's run was going to be a little loop out in the country, but ended up being more of an out-and-back sort of thing. I started running and decided to go north rather than run west down School Street. I hate being predictable. Louis L'Amour's heroes always got ambushed when they used the same trail too many times. I ran up to Maple on Lawrence, then turned east to head out of town.

I ran to Highway 61, ran in the middle of the highway for a little while and then ran off onto the left hand shoulder like a good little runner. I ran south to Highway 54 and headed east again. I ran out to the first dirt road with plans to run up to the next mile and back to town that way. When I got a quarter mile or so up the road, I realized I wasn't going to have time to make breakfast if I did that loop, so I doubled back and ran back into town.

When I got to Wal-Mart, I turned south and picked up my speed. I hadn't run fast in a long time and it felt good. Not that sub-8:00 is that fast. It does feel lickity split when you've been running 9:00 or slower though.

I ran down past the trailer courts and then up by the hospital on my way back to my starting point. My goal for my final mile of this 5-miler was to do the whole thing sub-8:00. I missed it by four seconds. I was pleasantly surprised when I uploaded my workout to see that my fourth mile was 8:05. Not bad for an old man running with an injured left shoulder. (garmin data)