18 LSD - Sauc 2 - UGH!!! Ran this one fighting off a cold and losing. The first 3 miles were tough on my legs though I had a hard time reigning my pace in. Eventually, after nearly being run down by a churchgoer leaving service, I settled in. Things went well on the first half, but the turnaround put me straight into the wind. By 3/4, the wind, the hills, and the illness caught up and I actually sat on my butt on a guard rail for a few minutes. It was much-needed and I don't regret the pause one bit. After that, I was able to pick up the pace and theoretically negative split. The home stretches put the wind (mostly) at my back and I was sailin'. Sadly, after a traffic light stop around 16.5 miles, I neglected to stop/restart the watch, so threw away about a half mile better than a 9:00 pace. This also resulted in a high Lap 16 time. I KNOW I was much faster in that stretch. Oh well. When I found my error and realized I was going to have to run an EXTRA half mile to make it official, I swore. A lot. And nearly cried. Long runs are AMAZING for the emotions. ;) Took a gel before this run both because I was starting it off tired, and because Amy didn't get through much of it on her run yesterday, so I had kept it in the fridge. Maybe that's why I couldn't slow down at the start. ;) Took standard Bloks and gels at 4.5/9/13.5 miles and finished up with a Clif bar. I'm wiped, my foot soreness is back (is it from running in my Sauc 1s during the week?) and around miles 8-12, I picked up a new, occasional, but very sharp pain in my left shin. Landing more on my toes seemed to remedy that.