It's going to be hot this weekend, but it was still cool this morning. I didn't set my alarm, but was awake anyway at 5 and up at 5:30. I did my run next to the Missouri River at English Landing Park.

I wanted to end up the week with 30 miles (why? I don't know. Just seemed like a nice round number), so I just needed 9.3 miles. Even so, I figured if I was going to go 9.3 I might was well go 10.
So, I went 10.5 and ended up the week with 31.2 miles. When the weather's nice, it's easy to just keep going.

As I was finishing up I noticed they were setting up for a 5k race in the park and you could still register for it. I briefly considered it, but then decided I didn't need those extra 3 miles, especially racing, after having just done 10. It seemed like I'd be asking for some muscle to pull.

Back to the run. It was supposed to be a long, slow one, and I started that way with a 10:05 first mile. I never checked my pace and just tried to keep it nice and easy all the way. I was aware that I was gradually picking it up as the miles ticked by, but a check at the end revealed just how consistently I increased the pace every mile: 9:32, 9:15, 9:14, 8:59, 8:52, 8:49, 8:35, 8:32. It is difficult to do that on purpose, but it's relatively easy if you're not checking your pace and just letting things happen naturally.

So, instead of a slow run, this turned out to be a marathon - pace run, with the average at 9:07. Good run, and enjoyable.