LSD with Free-Form Fencing Thrown In

Run: 15.5 miles in 2:02:28 min. @ 6:30 a.m.
Weather: Fair, 62°F, 81% Humidity, Wind: From W @ 9 mph; feels like 62°F.
Average Mile Page: 7:54 min/mi
Course: A slight variation on an existing USATF Map It! course, Summer's 17 Miles.
Total climb: 465 ft/142 m
Total elevation change: 928 ft/283 m

I am slowly, but surely, working my way back into a moderate level of training for whatever late-Summer-early-Fall brings, whether a trail ultra or road marathon. Today was my first "formal long slow distance (LSD) run, since my marathon on May 28, and all-in-all, I felt pretty strong throughout. I did build in two walk-breaks, one at the 50 minute point (roughly 6.4 miles in) and a second 30 minutes later (about mile 10.1). Had I gone further on my run, I likely would have been smart to build (at least) a third walk in, as well.

While making my way up Monroe Avenue, during the very early part of the run, I went past Monroe High school and was happy to notice the magnetic-cum-fence poetry pictured above. It was such an interesting visual I returned later to snap a few photographs, one of which appears above. It was hard to quickly determine if all of the words, of which there was a lot of fencing covered, were all part of a longer train of though poem, or if each segment was a different individual student's contribution. As it stands for this image: "dawn awakes without shadow remember sacred."

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!