Notes
This was a much needed confidence boosting long run. I ran it at the track, which was SO much easier than struggling over ice. Around 3 miles in, my foot (the one without the sfx) started to hurt. I don't know how my trusty Brooks Adrenaline's morphed into a a too-small, uncomfortable shoe, but they have. Thankfully I had my Asics with me and switched shoes and didn't have any more problems after that. Sad to say that I'm going to need to set the Brooks aside for good and send the extra pair in stock in my closet to eBay! Around 6 miles in, I picked up the pace. I'd been averaging 8:45s, but at that point, I just felt ready to run a little faster. I ate some fruit gels around mile 8 and took a quick water break, and then tried to get the last 6 miles in progressively faster. I didn't have a highly accurate way to gauge it, but I do know that my lap splits started to steadily decline until the last mile when I ran a 7:30 pace!
I did feel the usual niggles, and particularly my hip (the one I was in PT for), which is a first in many months. It was some of the shooting pain, the first I've really felt during a run in a very long time. It wasn't anything that hurts so bad or lingers so much that it slow me down at all. But I am still hoping to address it once and for all through a new PT and ART approach. I have an appt Tuesday with an ortho PT near my house who is part of a practice that does ART. So I'm hopeful we will get to the root of the issues....
Overall a REALLY good run!