8.0 miles

More than once in the past 24 hours did I try to talk myself out of 8 miles today.

It didn't work.

Last night I lay in bed and tried to mentally go over the route (my 4.0 mile out-and-back) and... it was so strange... I couldn't remember it past about the first mile. I must have been asleep and experiencing that strange dyslexia that affects us in our sleep because, in spite of the fact that I've lived in Sellwood for years and years, I just kept getting "lost". Such a strange memory.

Woke up at 6:15 AM, to the alarm. Smacky actually glared at the alarm when it went off. I know cats don't have the same facial expressions as humans (if at all) but if he had been human he would have been so very pissed. It made me laugh.

Of course, I turned the alarm off and then promptly went back to sleep.

Around 7:30 AM I woke up again and actually made it out of bed. I checked the temperature - I was worried that it had already warmed up to where it would be difficult running. But it was only 58° F. It had warmed up 2° F by the time I got my running clothes on and was ready to run, though. Still, 60° F isn't bad.

And... I was slow. I was able to keep about a 10:30 pace for most of the run, which means I was stopping about every 10 minutes to walk for another minute or two. Stopped three times for water, which isn't bad. The last mile I slowed down to the point where it dropped my overall average quite a bit - my finish time, including the water and walking breaks, was 1:28:10, which makes an 11:01.25 pace.

But, I did it, and this has been a tough week for me, with almost no "rest" or "easy" runs and 18.5 total miles.

Next up, on Monday I'll be at my sister's beach house with family and will try an easy 30 or 40 minutes on the sand... ahhhhh... One last summer vacation.