I was not interested in running in the heat of the day, which I figured was going to start by 8 or 8:30 a.m., so I got out of bed at 4:50 and was running at English Landing by 5:25. My goal was to go 6 - 10 miles, depending on the weather conditions.
I was lucky because it was cloudy early, so the sun never got the chance to beat directly down on us early exercisers. Even so, it was 85 at the start, and humid.
I took off slowly, and felt pretty sluggish for the first 3.5 miles. At that point I stopped at the truck for some water, and when I took off again I felt much better. My first four miles were between 930 and 10:38, while everything after that was under 9.
The slow start allowed my body to acclimate to the conditions without over-exerting, and made it possible for me to go 10.2 miles. My overall pace was 9:05.
I finished the week with 34.6 miles, and the month with 136.4 miles.
Looking back on the year so far, I started out in January hobbling on an injured foot and wondering when I'd ever heal enough to start running again. I logged just 7.2 miles that month.
Things began to improve some in February and I was able to run 44 miles. I did a lot of walking in addition to my running in the winter and spring months.
Toward the beginning of March I finally turned the corner on my sore foot, and I ramped up the mileage quickly, totaling 112 miles. In April it was 121, and May was 131.
Despite the miles, I've tried to take it easy and avoid injury. So far, so good.