7 miles

I made it 7 miles! Gratifyingly, this run was much easier than last week's 6-mile run. I don't know if that's because my training is having an effect or simply because my confidence is growing, but it sure was nice.

The run took me 1 hour 18 minutes, and it was a perfect day for a run -- sunny, cool, and breezy. It actually felt fairly easy for the first half or so. On the way back, my legs were starting to get tired, and by the last couple miles I was working hard. But I managed to fall into that rhythm of "tired-but-methodical plodding along" that can take me very far. Sometime during the fifth mile, I saw a billboard with characters from the Disney movie The Jungle Book, and for the rest of the run, I was silently chanting to myself the mantra of the elephants' dawn patrol: "hup two three four, keep-it-up two three four..." This was a surprisingly effective way to keep a steady pace!

Now I am really looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. :-)