Long run -- Sat. Mar. 5

Planning a 22 miler, but not sure if I'll manage that: sore throat since Fri. night, and feeling busy and coldy. Delay until the day gets nice and warm, and delay some more, but finally out just before three. Wear longs, and hat and gloves, but only fleece and shirt on top -- no jacket. It's SPRING (ish, today at least). Planned a 7.5 mile loop, to repeat, then add variant loop on top as far as possible. Aiming for 8:00s, a pace with no stress. Start off fine: the loop is a Rural Eskett figure of eight, and after a bit fast of a start, slow down and get into a good pace. Come back up to Jackson, along to railway crossing, then back along trail for start of second loop: a shade under 1 hour for 7.5 miles, so pace is fine. Second loop also good -- meet some horseriding groups on the way, a nice boost for me to get the quicker miles in to compensate for slower ones, so overall I'm dead on pace. At end decide not to do any extra, but run home, stopping clock just outside development, thus:

Time: 2.08:41
Distance: 16.11 miles
Pace: 7:59s

Comment: Okay, so weekly mileage is off by 8 miles this week, but this was useful: felt comfortable the whole way, with maybe a bit of a twinge at 11 miles and beyond from right groin, but keeping pace slow meant nothing was serious. Hoping to get over this cold next week in time for a hard-running spring break week. Then it'll almost be time to taper ! !