Every day is a new day

The USCG puts on a seven mile road race to celebrate Alaska Day.  On this day the Russians turned over Alaska to the U.S. right here in  our town.

Why 7 miles was chosen I don't know, but the course is two connected road 5K's with a bit added on to make the full seven miles.  I started easy, I think, as there were no markers until the turn around point.  I ran with one of my normal long run partners who is training for  a marathon next month.  She is clearly in better shape.  We ran together for the first 3 miles and the I slowly pulled ahead.  I reached the turnaround in 28:05 or almost exactly  an 8:00/ mile pace.  Felt good at this point and decided to just cruise back without pushing since I had done an interval workout yesterday and my legs felt tired.  All was good until the bridge at 6 miles.  the bridge is a half mile long with only about 80 feet of elevation gain.  I slowed on the uphill but neglected to speed up much on the way down.  I could tell when I hit the flat with .5 to go that I was tired.  My running partner caught back up and passed me while encouraging me to pick it up.  The legs just would not cooperate and I crossed the line at 55:55 for a 27:50 split. Guess did not actually slow too much at the end. Still all and all a good run that I never intended to race flat out.