What a spectacular morning! It was perfect running weather, clear and in the low 60's. Today was a 10 mile recovery run, supposed to be at conversational pace, and Gilbert said to pick it up over the last 1.5 miles or so. My whole long run gang was here this morning, so we could let the main pack go, and we settled into our pace comfortably. Diana, Henry, and Tracy were all there, and had Greta with us for the first 5 miles or so (she was only going 7 this morning). We chatted away as we ran, starting at 6:30 am.

We were cruising along at something like 9:45 pace by the time we met up with Gilbert on the trail, and while he was singing and we were doing the "Iyo ngwe" response, we sped up for a mile in there, to about 9:00 pace. After he pulled away, we settled back down. At the Rock, Greta peeled off, and our happy band of four hit the trail underneath Mopac, up the hills to Enfield. We continued to have a good time, and the pace remained pretty consistent. Once we hit Exposition and were on the homeward portion, however, we started to ease the pace forward. Mile 7 was 9:39, mile 8 was 9:12, mile 9 was 8:48, and finally, Diana and I pulled away on the last mile, which was 8:18. Those last miles didn't feel that much faster, and we had a lot left.

It was a very good run. 10 miles, average pace 9:31. Excellent morning of running, followed by the usual Saturday stretching ritual with the Gazelles.

I can't wait for the Pervasive 10 miler next weekend! It will be very interesting to see where I am.