~6 miles @ ~11 min/mi

Cara Marie Manlandro's car won't start, so Sunday morning I drive out to her home in Derwood. At 8am we set off along local sidewalks, up Crabbs Branch Way to Redland Rd to Needwood Rd and then down the east side of Lake Needwood. CM's goal as she continues to get back into shape after summer illness is to run 3 miles, and that we do comfortably with splits of 10:28 + 10:22 + 9:52 by my GPS. Then we start walking the hills and take to the trails around the southern end of the lake. Guided by my recollection of a run with Caren Jew (cf. 2009-04-05 - Lake Needwood Trails), Parilla Path leads to Gude Trail which we follow over frosty grass, along a gas pipeline right-of-way, through suburban back yards, past barking dogs and weathered bird houses, until we arrive at East Gude Dr (splits 12:57 + 12:49). CM knows the way here and declares that there's one mile to go. I insist on accelerating and trying to push our average pace for the day down under 11:00 min/mi, so we dash along the sidewalk and make it back to her place in 9:26. Whee!

^z - 2010-11-27