6 Miles like I knew what I was doing

There's nothing quite like a good, confidence-building long run and this morning was just that. I started around 7, a lot later than what I had hoped but the sun was still behind a lot of clouds and it wasn't too bad for most of my run. When I woke up this morning, I decided I was looking at 5-6 miles. By the time I got to the park, I had committed to 6, no less. I've run a couple of 5 miler the last few weeks but not continuously. Those runs have all been divided into 2 runs, a couple or 3 miles before meeting up with PIM and then a PIM run. I've been doing a loop and taking a good 5 or 10 minute break and then runing with the Power in Motion crew. So, I didn't quite know what to expect.

Since I was committed, I thought I'd do a commitment run. That's a run where you go OUT half the target distance and then you have run back. There are no shortcuts, no chance when you pass your car to cut the run short. You just must run back the 2nd half. I started at the tennis center and headed east out of the park towards Shepherd. When I got to Shepherd, I cut over to Allen Parkway, up to Waugh, across to the other side, and then back down Memorial to the park.

When I got back to Shepherd, I looked at my Garmin and asked myself, "Do you have 2 more miles in you?" "Yes." "No, I mean do you have 2 more GOOD miles in you." "Fo sho!!!", I answered. I stopped for water at Starbuck's and never looked back. Those last two miles were GREAT. Here are the splits:

Mile 1 - 14:48
Mile 2 - 14:43
Mile 3 - 14:47
Mile 4 - 14:39
Mile 5 - 14:59
Mile 6 - 13:58
Avg. pace - 14:38

It was soooooo great to see a bunch of PIM graduates out there keeping it going. I saw a bunch of familiar faces that looked like they were STILL having fun running. Caught the bug, did y'all? I ran into Will and we enjoyed some breakfast and a beverage at Starbuck, chatted a little, then headed out to get the day started. :)