Ideal Weather

Weather conditions for our group run on Sunday were near ideal. It was perhaps 4-5 degrees too cold to call it perfect running weather but no one was complaining. There was such a sharp, but welcome contrast to some of the group runs we've endured up to this point. Fourteen miles was the scheduled distance so we were to run from the marina (Rocky River Reservation) down to the "tree line" just past Mastick Woods...and back. I had set up a water table at 3.5 miles and Team Coordinator Tracy headed out to the Cottonwood Picnic Area, which is just shy of the turnaround, to provide a second stop for water and gels. The group was relatively small, but a good group nonetheless. With so few, I always wonder if I'm seeing a representative sample of the entire group or if those that show up to group runs are a little ahead of the rest. Anyway, we ended up going a little farther than planned but no one seemed to mind since it was such a gorgeous morning. I spent miles 3.5-7 catching up with the rest of the group after having run alongside some of the half-marathoners who were only doing 6 miles. This gave me an opportunity to run at tempo pace, which was kinda nice since I had to skip my scheduled Saturday run because of work (blah!!).

This is why we like running! Look at that backdrop!