No stop

Saturday was as hot as summer blazes down here so I was pushing to get out early. Since the rescue squad came by at 430 to attend to a neighbor, I was certainly up early enough. Lack of adequate sleep aside, I opted not to run the river again. I'll save that for another weekend and beach escape. It just wasn't the week to go for tranquil and serene. I had a mission unrelated to the environment to work on this time out.
I ran my 6-mile Lake Virginia circuit expecting to run into runners in a popular 5K race (every finisher receives a tree to take home and plant). My timing was a little off and I saw the last of the racers strolling back to the start area (it was a point to point race requiring a bus ride or walk back to the carpark).
When I began my run I thought I would go easy and forever. I had that sort of mindset: just not stop running. I followed my route and missed the 1-mile mark for lap timing while my mind wandered. I caught myself and beeped in for the rest of the markers. With the last mile ahead of me, I saw that my time was pretty darned good. I thought about Mark's POSE stride and worked to lift my legs more. I scurried on home and was pleasantly surprised to see I had set my #3 PR time for that circuit. It's always been a tough top ten PR time to crack these days. I was quicker when I was younger. Needless to say I was elated with the time while everything else in my head just bounced along for the ride.