Could these be chillbumps!

Finally, cool weather has kicked in. I couldn't wait for this Saturday to enjoy a long run without melting. The plan was to run 15 miles so we ran north on riverside way before the sun was up and headed north about 5 miles. We turned back around and got through that awful boring dead air area before 81st before the sun was all the way up. I really wanted to stop at a bathroom so we decided to take a field trip over to the casino. Now I have never been in a casino and I was all eyes when we went in. Slot machines everywhere, I mean hundreds of them and people were playing on them and it wasn't even 7:00! We were entertained by the winners' pictures, people who had won cars, one of them was particularly funny. We decided that the restaurant would be worth a try at some point. The restroom wasn't bad either. So back out on Riverside, we went over the Jenks bridge, waved at our Runner's World friends who were just finishing their 6 mile drop back run and we headed over past the aquarium and around Jenks. I was happy with my pace, I averaged 10:20 and didn't walk until the last couple of miles. I did stop too long at the water breaks though. I tried Honey Stingers for the first time and really liked them, good flavor and good energy. As we got closer to the end of our run, I dropped further back and as I came to 96th and Riverside, I wondered where the rest of my group went and suspected that they couldn't resist the Harvard hill. So I plodded on under Riverside and told myself that I would run up that hill. No worries, they went only to the bridge so I was safe. Yay! We ended up with 16 miles, I think they had 16.50 and it was a good run. I'm really stiff in my hips and getting antsy for fall marathons. We even began to plan for marathons we want to run in 2011.