11.3 miles at 7:13 pace

I started out on the long run at a little slower pace, 7:15 instead of 7, and everything felt good the first 8 miles despite the heat - about 95 degrees. At the 8 mile mark I realized today was not the day that I was going to do 15 miles at that pace. I felt like it was possible, but that it would take a toll on my body, and I did not feel the need to do that to myself. What it really means is that I'm not quite there yet with my running, to do 15 miles at 7 to 7:15 - which is fine. I'll get there. I did finish 11 miles at 7:13 and was not breathing heavily at the end, normal heart rate, so I felt good about that.

On another note, it's been about 3 months since I've done a pushup or any upper body training. About 2 years ago I had undertaken the "100 pushup challenge" program and got up to about 75 pushups that I could do at a time. The program really works, but it eventually dawned on me that there is no need for a distance runner to have large arms or a developed chest. This may seem a strange benchmark, but to me it's all good because it tells me I've been focusing on the parts that are going to make me faster - my legs and core. A triathlete or a sprinter may need big arms but I've never seen a fast distance runner with them.