I'll say it again, it is much easier......

to run when the weather is cool. I took off today at about noon from a ranch where I visit in Paso Robles, in the heart of the beautiful Central Coast wine country. The temp was in the 60 deg range. It was misting lightly so I figured I might get rained on. I wore a tech t-shirt and my long running pants, strapped on my 4-bottle hydration belt with my phone, i.d. and insurance cards tucked safely inside and down the road I went. The first 5.2 miles was down Creston Rd, two lanes with a decent shoulder but very fast traffic. I decided to do 3 min run/1 min walk intervals so my GymBoss timer was set accordingly. I really cruised along this section and reached the intersection with Hwy 41 where I turned right. Relatively level still with just some gentle rolling hills. 2 miles along Hwy 41 then right on Cripple Creek Rd, then about a mile to El Pomar Rd where I hung a left. To this point it was mostly level. El Pomar Rd though has some pretty good hills for the next 3 miles. Some were gentle, and then there were some that were a little more challenging. At about 3 miles I turned right on to S El Pomar Rd. I knew that the hills would not be as significant from this point on so I changed from 3 and 1's to 7 and 1's. I was still feeling really strong so I figured I could take it all the way in. It was about 1 1/2 miles up to Creston Rd, right on Creston and then another 1 1/2 back to the ranch. I was really cookin' along. I checked my half-marathon split at 2:33, not bad considering my PR is 2:15. I pulled in to the ranch feeling really good, although my legs definitely felt used I had no pain issues with my normal trouble spots, left knee, groin or piriformis muscles. My only issue is that I realized that even if I was able to hold that pace (11:39 per mile) that a marathon would be almost 6 hours. Bummer. But I will soldier on!