There are a couple of things I don't care for when running: hot weather, high humidity, running in the dark, rain, uneven surfaces. There are probably a couple more buth these are the highlights. This morning was all of that with the exception of the hot part, that is if you can call 70F not hot. It was most certainly humid at 93% relative humidity it was dark as night and it was raining.

Our road is still under construction and what was a dusty dirt road turning my pool green became a mud pit that was a misery to run through. It's a good thing that only the first and last 0.5 miles of my run are affected by the horrendous road condition.

When I got up I didn't really feel like running with the rain and the darkness but I knew that I had to put the miles in. After running through the mud pit at 8 minute pace I was contemplating taking this tempo run easy but by the time I finished the second half mile of my warm up at 6:45 pace I knew that I'd be alright.

Usually I run the first mile easy, then gradually build speed and finally slow it down towards the end. Today's tempo called for a 50 minute run and I decided to really try to push the entire middle section. So after the 7:20 average first mile I was clocking pretty solid mile splits and averaged 6:26 for the next 5.5 miles. Then I finished with a slow 7:20 half mile through the mud and finally crawled up to my house at an 8 minute pace for the last quarter mile. I felt refreshed and really good after the run. I think I should be able to hold this pace for another 4 miles next Monday at my 15K race. But we'll just have to see what the weather will be like.

Splits:
07:20.2
06:21.3
06:22.2
06:29.4
06:27.1
06:33.5
06:49.2
08:11.6 (last 0.25 mile pace)