Long Run Sunday - My favorite!

Good News:  I feel good after my long Run today...13.03 miles!
Bad news: my sparkling white shoes finally got dirty :(  It was going to happen eventually.

It was in the 48-50F range, sunny, and not windy for the first time in a long time!

Here were my splits.

And the elevation-

The first 1.65 was with my husband.  We ran up the hill at an unusually fast pace considering we hadn't warmed up. We walked briefly just after mile 1.0.  Splits 3-5 were slower... I stopped a couple times to check out my surroundings.  Too bad I didn't have my camera...  

I saw a red-tailed hawk.  

I found 11 deer standing in tall grass, perfectly still, staring at me.  

I found 4 wild turkeys.

I found 1 blue bird.

And more mud than I had hoped to find (see first picture of this post).  I tried to dodge muddy spots and goose poop throughout miles 3 and 4.

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Once I left the park, around mile 4.6 through 4.8 (:55 minutes) I took an Espresso Love gu.  Whether the effects are real or just in my head...I ran my next several miles faster (but comfortably faster - my heart rate did not increase with the increase in pace).  I slowed down around mile 9 (1:43), and probably should have taken something around that point.

I had a Shot Blok at about 9.4 and 10.0 (1:48, 1:55).  Because that's all I brought with me.  Again, my pace improved for splits 11-14 above.  My plan had been to do around 12 miles, and with that distance in mind, I didn't think it would be worth taking a second gu for the last 2-3 miles.  If I had known I would end up doing 13 miles, I might have brought a second gu.

Also observed on my run, while somewhere in suburbia, was a tanning bed, out at the road, with a For Sale sign.  Not something you see every day!

By the way...are you on Daily Mile?  Be my friend!

After my run I had some of this:

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before, but I'm obsessed with peanut butter filled pretzels.  And I made one of my Starbucks VIA packets with mostly skim milk (instead of 16 oz water it calls for).

Lastly, a picture of my pup tonight.  You'd think SHE ran 13 miles today (she didn't).

PS, Be sure to congratulate Alyssa on her amazing marathon performance today!