~4.5 miles @ ~9 min/mi

The cheerful sun is out after what seems like weeks of rain. Stephanie and I meet at 10am and venture out for parking lot perimeter laps. I chatter away in response to her question about how to get faster—speedwork, tempo runs, long slow distance, injury avoidance, etc.—and we cruise the first ~1.5 mile circuit at ~10.5 min/mi pace. The second loop is faster, ~9.0 min/mi, and then Stephanie heads back to the locker room while I do one more orbit almost as hard as I can, ~7.5 min/mi. The old right knee is slightly tight until that final circuit, when I'm pushing too hard to notice it.

^z - 2010-03-22