Urban Eight -- Sat. October 4

Took R to his soccer game in Chicopee (I think it was, the town borders are bit fuzzy there for me) and got in a good road run while he played (his team won 7-4 or so: nice!). Found a loop that was part on quieter roads, though it turned out to be an industrial estate and to go through entries to two contiguous town dumps. But hey, it was okay. The day was sunny but not hot, so I was running in long-sleeved top and shorts.

Having not run since the Mohonk I was feeling pretty zippy, and after doing some map checking in the first mile (giving a recorded 7:20) I settled into a good series of quick miles: 6:46, 6:42, 6:42, 6:33, 6:41 . . . and then I started to feel it a bit. A 7:03 and 7:02 followed, with a fast finish as I was late -- the final 0.84 was done at 6:37 pace. The route was out to 33, right and up to New Ludlow, another right and then left at Morgan, on to Pleasant, left at 202 and left at 33 again and all the way back. Covered Chicopee, Ludlow, Granby and SoHadley, I think:

Time: 1:00:24
Distance: 8.84
Speed: 8.78 mph

Comment: the pace was fun, being road and flat after the recent muddy hills. Distance was perfect too -- not enough to feel like a strain (though I slept in the afternoon for a bit!). With this I'm back into some training for the next race (which is all too soon).