Ran a 5K this morning on Johns Island.  It's amazing the difference in temperature between 6AM (when I usually work out/run) and 8AM (when the race started).  It was hot.  Dang hot.  This was a cross country type of race, meaning we were on dirt/over grown roads and paths around a lake.  I started out trying to take the curves as close as possible to keep from running any more distance than I had to.  By half way through the race I had changed strategies and was finding the most direct path to the next shady patch along the race route.  I started out at a pace of under 10 minute/miles.  Held this for about a mile.  Declined after that.

I'm not sure how often my Forerunner captures the pace reading because, as you can see from the chart above, it is very erratic.  Regardless, you can see a couple of spikes up to the 20 min/mile range.  No way to hide the fact I took a couple of walk breaks.  Like I said, it was hot.  The spike at the end is showing that I didn't stop my Forerunner until about 20 feet after I crossed the finish line and was walking.  It also means the Forerunner time of 33:05 was a little off.  I think I crossed the line at 32:47, about a minute slower than my time from the ALS Hope 5K on the beach at IOP a few weeks ago.  All in all, any race you finish is a good race.  I wasn't last and I beat some skinny people.  One of the highlights was watching a guy think he crossed the finish line, pour a drink in his face and then do a belly slide on the ground for some strange reason.  The look on his face when someone told him the finish was about 10 feet in front of him was priceless.  Well, plenty more work to do to get ready for the half marathon in February but I'm putting miles on my legs.  This week I've run about 12.5 miles.  I will probably do a long run Sunday.