4-5-5-5-4

Keeping this as short as possible while still sharing what I want to share -

4 mile warmup - 37:38

Loop 1 - 5 miles (not MGP, but 'faster than easy pace and see how my legs feel')
8:01
7:40
7:36
7:50
8:12
average - 7:52 (I'm very happy with this pace being 'faster than easy pace'.)

Loop 2 - 5 miles (supposed to be easy pace, really I tried to slow down)
8:13
8:08
8:09
8:23
8:41
average - 8:17 (I'm very happy with this pace being my 'easy pace'.)

Loop 3 - 5 miles (MGP - see what I have left, ultimate Nashville MGP is 7:38)
7:54
7:13 - can you tell I love downhill? What was I thinking? And this was into a brutal headwind!
7:40 - consciously backed off here because the previous mile split scared me.
7:55
8:20 - can you tell how much I hate uphills?
average - 7:48.4 (I wish this average was faster, but I'll take it for now. I've got some work to do to meet my goals.)

4 mile cooldown - 39:43 - very painful, but Michael and I ran back the whole way and did not need to walk (not that there is anything wrong with walking).

Total running time - 3:17:23 (average 8:35 - HOLY COW that is fast for me if it includes 8 miles of really easy running)

Notes of interest -

• It's funny to me to see how consistently variable my splits are on each loop based on the terrain. You can definitely tell where the hills were. I think most people had a spread of paces similar to mine, especially with the slower miles 4 and 5.
• I did this run with only one GU at mile 9 and 16 ounces of Cytomax throughout the run.
• I've been battling water weight for the past week and started this run 6 pounds heavier than I started the run last weekend. I weighed 148 at the start today. After the run, I was down to 143.2, even after eating breakfast and drinking lots of fluids. I hope it stays low...hopefully I've sweated out all of the excess sodium that I've been hanging on to.
• My hip did start to flare during lap 3 and during the cooldown, but it is feeling better now.
• Breakfast with the team was awesome. Kamran got a Snuggie from the black short fasties (which was hilarious to watch) and he also drove me to my car at RunTex. Thanks Kamran!