Finally, double-digit success!

Today, Lena and I successfully ran 11 miles in between the two towns of Champaign and Savoy! Here are our splits:

• Mile 1: 10:41
• Mile 2: 10:00
• Mile 3: 10:01
• Mile 4: 10:15
• Mile 5: 10:11
• Mile 6: 9:40
• Mile 7: 10:08
• Mile 8: 10:25
• Mile 9: 10:24
• Mile 10: 10:07
• Mile 11: 10:11
• .01-mile nubbin: 0:03
• Total: 1:52:03
  

That's a lot of splits, fo' real!

Today, I felt much better today than last week, probably because I wasn't trying to keep up with a pace group and we didn't run hills. Perhaps most importantly, the weather was perfect: between 40 and 50 degrees, sunny (no clouds!), and a light breeze!

Miles 5 and 6 were literally at the end of civilization. We ended up on an asphalt country road with no sidewalk, flanked on both sides by dead, muddy cornfields. Cars had to go around us (so I did a lot of grateful waving), and we were literally huddled on the ragged edge of the road. I won't lie--I felt pretty hardcore running towards on-coming traffic in the middle of nowhere.

Around mile 7, we went to Subway and drank some water, used napkins as tissues, and pulled honey packets out of our sports bra to suck down in front of a 6-year-old. I was feeling pretty good, so I'm not sure if the honey did anything. It was certainly much easier to get down than Gu, but maybe I'll give the latter a chance in the coming weeks. (If not, I'll just be pulling honey out of my bra on the race course. Hot!)

The last two miles weren't a struggle, but I definitely felt tired and some slight discomfort in my legs. (I'm going to assume that's normal.) I hope that I can get out 2.1 more miles on race day. Fortunately, I had Lena to chat about a variety of interesting subjects, including inconsiderate drivers.

Overall, I feel pretty positive (=awesome) about this run. Lena's a good running buddy, and my body made up for the long run fail of last week. Here's to hoping that race day is equally enjoyable!

The rest of the day was spent becoming increasingly sore and eating back my calorie deficit.

Oh, and I went to the park near the apartment, ostensibly to do some reading. Too bad I was distracted by this guy with mechanical legs bounding towards my bench!


(Also, I saw one woman with leashed ferret and another with a leashed cat. Er.)

Okay, going to go pass out. Sorry for being lame. I have a Latin test tomorrow (haven't studied too much), and my legs are tired!