Pretty good run overall this morning. Plan was to meet Victoria and Jorge at Longleaf and start out with them, running up Starkey Blvd and into Starkey Park, then get a ride back to our cars. Due to some email issues and the fact that I was a few minutes late I ended up running alone. I started out slowly trying to get my legs warmed up and doing the best I could to see in the morning darkness using the little keychain light that I had. Since I knew that Jorge and Victoria were already ahead of me I didn't have to worry too much about running into a lot of cobwebs. There was no moon for light, but the stars were pretty bright. Saw lots of bats, but as usual they didn't bother me. No coyotes today fortunately. After a few miles, David pulled up in his car alongside me and asked if I needed anything, which was nice. Continued on and made it inside Starkey park. As I got onto the bike trail there it was just starting to get light out. Turned around just past what is usually the 4 mile water stop. Stopped there very briefly to refill my bottles then started my return trip. Was starting to feel good about mile 10. At the turn around I put on my ipod shuffle. Saw a bunch of the Striders heading out. Said hi to lots of runners and headed towards the park exit then back onto Starkey Blvd. Weather was decent and I was mostly going to miss the full Sun, but caught a little bit of it on the last couple of miles. At the turnaround point I had averaged an 8:20 pace. Finished strong for the last couple of miles with the final mile at 6:57. I was however starting to feel some of the week catch up with me but fortunately not until the end. Finshed the run with a 7:55 average, so it was a progression run of sorts. Stopped by the social hour for a bit to say hi and catch up, then headed back home. First 20 miler in a while will be in two weeks from now.
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