Very Promising Outing

Miles:16.1
Time:2:32
Elev. Gain:1,700'
YTD Miles:140.3
YTD Time:23:14
YTD Elev.:22,100'

South Mountain trails;Treadmill-

So after a few shorter runs on the treadmill I headed out with the intentions of doing a long run at SMP since I had not gotten in any longer runs over the few days prior. After initially deciding on a 12 miler I told myself "Why not go for a half marathon?". So my plans changed and I decided to go for 13.1 if my health provided me the chance. Luckily it did and right from the start I could tell that for whatever reason I felt super chipper which calculated to super speedy. I noticed early that I was able to comfortably keep a 9:00 to 9:15 pace for the first few miles without much effort so I decided that I would try and shoot for a fast time. It was a little warm but not too bad with little cloud cover and a slight breeze so the elements played no factor and I soon found myself at the 6.5 mile turnaround with still quite a bit of reserves so I munched down some salted almonds and graham crackers and chugged about 5 oz's of water and steered my way back down the zig zagging maze back to the parking lot. I honestly never felt like my legs or my energy levels were low or tiring so I continued pushing and rounded out the run in 2:03 and change.

I think I can honestly say that I have never felt so in control of my actions and movements on the trails before as I did yesterday. I really believe I could have knocked off another few minutes if I really had known my levels would hold up as they did yesterday. It was a great run and a great mental boost going in to late winter and possibly a few races to motivate myself.