[fyi - I haven't been posting my weekly training runs because there's not much to report other than "I got the gym at 9:00pm. Ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes. Went home." If anything, I would add, "I really wish I could get out of work early enough to run at Memorial again.")

Location/Route: River Oaks/Rose Garden Run
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:55:05
Average Pace: 11:30

• After the hellish heat/humidity of last week’s 25K, this morning’s run was gloriously cold. Driving to the Park at 5:45am, my car thermometer read 55 degrees. Yay! I also wore gloves to keep my hands warm (a lesson learned from a previous cold morning run), which turned out to be a very good thing.
• I ran with the medium Reds this morning. We started off at a faster than usual pace, but the cold made it feel easier. My legs felt pretty good, though a bit tight…but I figured that was due to the cold.
• The run was overall, pretty uneventful - which is a good thing. I didn’t have even a twinge of pain in my knee, although I did stop for a minute to stretch at the Rose Garden. I think all the weekly stretching (and gallon of IcyHot) has helped.
• One thing I do have to say - that last 1-2 miles from Memorial and Shepherd back to the Park? Ugh. I’m so sick of that part of the course. With very few exceptions, we’ve run that last 1-2 miles along that street every Saturday morning. But, it’s strange how it got to me mentally - I ended up walking for a minute out of frustration. Then, I told myself that I needed to get through that last stretch since I might feel just as frustrated during the last stretch of the Marathon. So, I picked it up and ran the rest of the way back to the Park.
• I ended the run feeling good, even feeling like I could run another 4-5 miles. I really think the cold helped. Yay for coldness.
• When I got back to my car, I ran into a couple of former coworkers. They’d also been in the Red Group this whole time, and we hadn’t seen each other. I guess that’s one of the disadvantages of being in such a large running group - it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.

Well, I’m off to run errands and do some long-needed shopping. Tonite, I’m going back to the Angelika to see Walk the Line with Britino…even though I’m not much of a Johnny Cash fan. But, what I’m *really* excited about are Rent and King Kong. Saw Rent three times while I was in NYC, and cried every time. Even the trailer had me tearing up.