Notes
My route today was down Senor Road to East Warren, then down the Common Road to S.G. Phillips and down route 100 to Fiddler's Green. Total distance was 17.22 miles.
This run felt better than my last long run, even though it was longer. The difference is that this one didn't contain multiple long, steep uphill sections, but instead was more even and rolling. In fact, I think this run might even have had a little more downhill than uphill. I took the first 4-5 miles pretty easy, running in the 8:10-8:20 range. After I passed that point, I accelerated up to a comfortable but fairly quick pace. I averaged around 7:40-7:50 up to mile 13, where I accelerated it even more to finish strong. I ended up averaging 7:30 over the last 4.
At the end, although I was and still am tired, I felt like I could have gone at least a couple more miles if I had backed off on the pace in the last 4. I think the trick was eating a lot on Saturday and having breakfast this morning.
Amusing note, for the first time ever, I had a random person out in the world shout "Run, Forrest, run!" while I was out. It was weird.