Today's 8k run was brutal. 

Well ok, maybe only the first half of it was. It was a low-energy kind of morning, and I had to work at keeping up a consistent pace. We were doing 10 and 1s, and each 10-minute segment felt a lot longer than last week. The temperature was nice - I think it was hovering around freezing - but with all the slushy roads and half-thawed snow, it was tough going at times. It was kind of like running in sand.

I'm not sure what changed, but around the halfway mark my energy started to pick up, and I was back to doing the 10 and 1s easily. It helps that I have a great group, and I love chatting with everyone - especially on these long slow distance Sunday mornings.

Towards the end of today's run, one member of my pace group started singing the old army tune "I don't know, but I've been told..." and then we all started ad libbing and throwing in lines of our own.

"High Park Starbucks here I come."

"Cooooffeeee."

"Moooochaaaa"

..."LATTE!"

Maybe you had to be there. I was almost doubled over laughing.

That was around the 6.5k mark, and my group finished the 8k run happy and strong.

I'm not an early riser, but mornings like this are worth it.