9.21 miles ~ 2nd attempt, success!

Last night my friend called me and wanted to know if I would be interested in running with her this morning before we both had to get to our various kid-activity obligations for the day.  She was doing her long run of the week.  I explained about our failed attempt at 16 that morning and as I was talking to her I felt excited at the prospect of going out for another long-ish run, even if it would mean running long two days in a row.  We met up at 7 this morning and headed out to do our 9+ mile loop.  Today the temperatures were a bit colder, but there were no clouds in sight!  It was dark as we started out, but as the sun came up over the mountains, it turned into a beautiful morning.  I had set my Garmin to time out 4 minute to 1 minute intervals and so for every 4 minutes that we ran, we took a walking break.  For some reason when I run with my friend, Holly, I run faster than I do when I'm by myself or even when I'm with Chris.  I think part of it is that she naturally runs faster than me, and since we're both engrossed in conversation the whole time we're running, we go closer to her normal speed and don't focus so much on the fact that we're winded and/or fatiguing.  Today that resulted in a faster overall time for me.  Even with the walking breaks, we did our 9.21 miles in about 1 hour and 35 minutes, which equates to an average pace around 10:30 min./mile.  As an added bonus, I feel great!  My legs aren't even sore and I've been just feeling really good in general the past few days.  It's kind of nice to have that extra spark.  It motivates me to run more! :)