I ran 8.3 miles on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail above the Eagles View neighborhood and south toward Springville. Just before Springville I took the dirt road down to State St. and headed back north along State St. As I approached the Eagles View neighborhood I decided to head back up into the neighborhood and take the normal route back from the Eagles View gate. Unfortunately, I headed up the road south of the white fence just before the neighborhood and ended up having to go off road through the hills. I finally made it back into the neighborhood and to the gate and then back to work. Much of this run was in the hills and I had to work pretty hard. Even so, I only averaged 9:46/mi for the 8.3 miles. The steep uphills took so much out of me that it was hard to make up for it on the downhills. I also found myself holding back on many of the downhills because of the steepness and/or poor footing. Nevertheless, it was a fun adventure and a good run. Even though most of the run had been significantly slower, the last couple of miles from the Eagles View gate back to work I set the goal of averaging under an 8:00 pace, in spite of my tired legs. I thought it would be a good mental as well as physical challenge. I averaged a 7:49 pace for the 0.65 miles down to State St. I worried about the next 1.5 miles back because it was not downhill any longer, it was mostly level with two overpasses mixed in. After the first overpass my overall average pace since State St. was 7:41, 8:01 at the top of the second overpass, then 7:54 at the bottom. If I could just hold an 8:00 pace for the level section back in I'd meet my goal. I was so tired I decided to not look at my watch until the next intersection. I just focused on form and rhythm. At the intersection I was pleased to see my overall pace since State St. down to 7:45. I pushed on, not looking at my watch again until just before the finish. My final average pace from State St. was 7:40. I was thrilled.
One of my first thoughts after finishing was that it was too warm. I was hot and thirsty. Through all my cold winter runs I'd been looking forward to warmer weather, and now it was finally in the 60's and I was thinking it was too warm. I pushed that thought away and replaced it with thoughts of how beautiful the day was, what a challenging yet enjoyable run I'd just had, and how good it felt to be done with it...and the water at the fountain in the fitness center tasted so good.
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