Sick-'n-Tired (of being sick)

Sunday--Justin and I got together for my usual 11.5 mile run. We said we'd go at any easy conversation pace and then see how things developed. We chatted it up mightily for the first mile (8:00). We reach 1.7 in 13-something, a full minute or more off my usual pace. I was liking this, though, particularly given my 5x1K workout yesterday. We reach the turnaround point at 43:40, a far cry from 40:00 or 41:00. We dropped the pace to 7:05 or so and held it for a while. The last two miles were in 6:50 and 6:45, respectively. We came in at 83:20...for 7:15 pace. This was exactly 4 minutes off my pace a couple weeks ago. We ran the second 5.75mi in 39:40...6:54 pace. Incidentally, that day I did the entire run at 6:54 pace. Today felt a whole lot more relaxed and less lonely! I tell you what, though: I am sick-'n-tired (of being sick).