RUN: 8.8 miles @1:05:49, Viera Blvd<-->US1 & Heron++ & Stadium Pkwy

Tonight, I drove up to the corner of Viera Blvd and Murrell Rd, parked my car at the shopping center, and then went on my run. I knew that the road was going to be mostly dark, so I grabbed some reflective (and ugly-together) running attire.

The plan was to run east and making a detour into the Heron's Landing subdivision to run around one of its two lakes, before reaching US1, turning around, and making another detour into the same subdivision to run around the other lake.

Starting off, my upper-body felt fine. My lower body felt... unsettled. I kept running because I had been thinking about the route since the last hour at the office, and I couldn't let myself down. The route was mostly sidewalk and was at first very difficult because of the lights from the on-coming traffic. The subdivision provided nice running surface and from then on the roads were less-trafficked and calm.

The conservative running to US1 was a good warm-up and by the time I hit the subdivision for the second time (and the larger loop) I had hit my rhythm and seriously cruising.

I ran with music and was listening to my favorite tracks from Jack Johnson's new CD then to the latest episode of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. It was about that time that I was approaching the Viera/Murrell intersection, and the new Viera Blvd Overpass was staring me in the face, so what else did I have to do tonight?...

I kept going.

It was dark but enough light from passing cars to maintain a nice glow -- the sidewalk's fence and barricades were particularly swanky, and for a moment I felt like I was in a posh Atlanta suburb. My surroundings felt both developed and undeveloped... it felt great.

I followed Viera Blvd to where it met up with Stadium Pkwy then turned around and headed back east.

Anyways, on this out-and-back extra credit, I was flying -- much like last night's 3rd mile -- I must've been running in the very low 7's. Everything just seemed to click -- my legs felt like they were working at maximum efficiency and my lower torso was dutifully taut. I wish that I could capture my form for that stretch.

It was just an amazing run. What started out as a 6 1/2 mile course turned into almost 9 miles -- and ended up with an avg pace of 7:29!

I had left the camera at home so I snapped a pic with my camera, then headed home where I took the obligatory kitchen pics, which also turned out to be a successful photoshoot. I can't wait to plan my next run.

Here are the pics:

(click on a pic to open in a new browser)