As noted in recent posts, I often seem to hit a wall at around 9 to 11 miles. Today I would try to break through that wall and go for 12 or so. More importantly, I wanted to get my pace down below ten minutes per mile for at least three consecutive miles so I can also call it a tempo run. As recently as two months ago, I was doing this fairly regularly on my 9.5-mile route around Conservation Park in Panama City Beach. Since then, my running performance hasn't been quite so great. But of course, we know that progress isn't always in a straight line.
After five miles on Lester Rail Trail, I picked up the pace. I managed to get those three consecutive tempo-paced miles in (9:27, 9:17, 9:13)... and then I crashed. Up to that point, each mile had gotten faster. But now I was done. I got back to the car a little past mile ten. I still wanted to do 2 more, even though I was dead tired. So I went back out. That's when the deer flies attacked.
It was all I needed: an excuse that didn't have to use the words, tired, fatigued, bonked, etc. Nope, this time it was the deer flies that did me in.
(Of course, if I wasn't so tired, maybe I could've outrun them.)
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