Very nice day for a run, and I had nothing but time since I'm not working this week (except around the house). After getting a few things done early in the morning, I decided I needed to get out there before it got even a little bit warm. I was planning something in the neighborhood of 8 miles. The temperature was in the low 50s.
I could have gone to Smithville Lake and run on the shoreline trail, but it's a 30-min. drive and I didn't want to give up that much time to travel. So I headed for English Landing Park. I figured I'd be one of the few people there, but the place was busy with workmen getting the park ready for it's grand re-opening, and walkers and runners. The park has been closed or only partially open since last summer, when the Missouri flooded.
I didn't know what kind of run it was going to be until I got under way, but soon enough it morphed into a tempo run. I started with 9:32, and then 6 of the next 8 miles were at 9:00 or less. The final result was 9.1 miles in 1:21:17, for an 8:56 average. Loved it.