10 miler at last - Sun. Aug. 27

After being spared rain on Sat. for the tag sale (and doing a number on my back during clean-up) there was no such luck on Sunday. It rained lightly in the morning, but by the time I felt ready to head out in the p.m. it was pretty heavy. So, older shoes and my rain jacket -- headed off toward the rail trail, because despite puddles it has some tree cover. It was a better option also because the older shoes don't have so much spring/padding, but it was heavy going. Dodging puddles (and sideslipping into one early one, for one wet foot and grazed arm) gets wearying, and though it's railway grade downhill pace was slow. Plugged away to 181, then decided on road back. The rain was lighter, and it was still light enough not to need a flashlight (I was wearing my reflector vest). Followed 181 all the way, making decent pace mainly; one hour showed 7.85 miles, and I tried to kick for the last quarter mile, nudged on by a real downpour. Stopped a bit short of home and then jogged.

Time: 1:22:01
Speed: 7.9 mph
Distance: 10.79 miles

Comment: warmed up by 4 miles, and really felt good for lots of it after that. Mile 8-9 was hard, but after that I picked up and felt just about ready to go for a complete half -- that's the training goal for next weekend. The sodden jacket felt heavy by the end, but the nipple vaseline worked a treat! Small mercies.