Start time: 9/20/07, 7:30am
Location: Wilson Boulevard (Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, Ballston, Bluemont)
Distance: 6.25 miles
Average pace: 8:54min/mile

I was scheduled for an 11-miler today, so I mapped out a 6-mile run for the morning. The problem was, I’d never actually just run down Wilson Boulevard beyond the 1.5-mile mark. So while my route was great in theory, the reality? I had not realized there was a massive, massive, massive hill in mile 3. I mean, we’re talking so huge that when telling a friend where I’d run their response was, “Um, that’s really hilly” and they only drive that area. I actually ended up walking on that hill for about 30 seconds to catch my breath, which is really bad. Still, I picked it up on the way at the end, which was nice. (9:08, 8:49, 9:21, 8:54, 8:58, 8:35, and 1:48 for the quarter (an 8:03min/mile pace).)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1332567

Start time: 9/20/07, 7:15pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average pace: 8:34min/mile

What a beautiful evening it was tonight. Nice and cool, a gorgeous sunset for inspiration, and after a long day at work it felt good to blow off a little bit of steam. I figured the last two miles might slow down because the last two miles were uphill, but that wasn’t a problem this evening. One normal warm-up mile, then four that just went slightly faster and smoothly. Well, aside from no less than four bicyclists who were riding on the wrong side of the trail and almost ran me over. For two of them I felt the bike whiz by about a millimeter from me. Nice. (8:53, 8:28, 8:36, 8:31, 8:23.)

A graceful and easy tempo. Hurrah!