At the start of this week I didn't picture myself getting today's run finished, but it's done now, last 20 mile run leading up to Boston. I ran on the Suncoast trail, but started out at Anderson Snow Park, instead of the usual spot near SR 50. There would be less hills, but still enough for variety. It was dark when I started, and a bit foggy, which seemed to extend the darkness. Started out really slow, felt "cloppy", first mile was about a 10:10, next mile a minute faster, then settled into the 8's for a while. Yesterday, my legs felt great, the best they had all week, and I didn't run that far, but today they were back to feeling a bit tired. However, there was pretty much no soreness in the left leg from whatever "injury" had been there and was threatening to sideline me, that seems to be all gone. The trail was pleasant for the most part. There was a person sleeping on a picnic table, which wasn't too odd, since sometimes you see people camped along the trail who are on extended bike trips, but she didn't have a bike and was there on my return trip, but awake this time. I think she was homeless. With two miles left to go I saw Dan F. running with a friend. Stopped very briefly to chat with him. Dan is one of those very inspirational runners who has done some amazingly fast races, and is also an all around great guy but has had to take it easy for a while as far as running goes. Got going again and picked it up to just under 7:30 pace for the last two miles. Back at the park, the parking lot was now packed with cars, there were a couple of baseball games going on. The trail looped around just outside of the outfield fence, I worried for a second that someone would suddenly get the hit of their life and hit it right out of the park and nail me. So, I hurried along. I heard a coach yell out "Good eye!" to the batter waiting for a better pitch. So, I knew I was safe and made it past the outfield ok. Average pace: 8:11
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