It's 4 weeks till the 1/2 Marathon in San Francisco. Susan and I are on pace with the novice Hal Higdon training planning and completed 8 miles today. We ran the canal starting at Riggs Road. Up to the airport and then back to the car. We have discovered GU. At mile 4, I ate 1/2 pack of GU (chocolate extreme with caffeine... yum!). It takes about 10 minutes to kick in but my legs went from lead to tolerable. At mile 6, I had another 1/4 pack, saving the last bite for the final 7th mile. That extra caffeine was just enough to let me put a little kick on the end and drop to 9 min/mile for that last bit, felt great! The idea of hills still scares the crap out of me, but with more treadmill hill training I hope to overcome. I WILL finish... I expect to do so in less than three hours. Can I push it closer to the two mark? Who knows. What a great run. Activity Route: 8 mile Canal Elev. Avg: 1224 ft Location: Sun Lakes, AZ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 09/19/09 Up/Downhill: [+9/-9] Time: 07:00 AM Difficulty: 2.3 / 5.0   Weather: A Few Clouds   73 F temp; 53% humidity   73 F heat index; winds NE 8 Performance Distance: 7.98 miles Time: 1:31:47 Speed: 5.2 mph Pace: 11' 30 /mi Heart Rate: 158 bpm (Avg) Calories: 869 176 bpm (Peak) Notes 5 minute walk/ GU break at 4 miles, 2 minute walk/ GU break at 6 miles, ate last bit of GU on the last mile and kicked to 9.3 min mile for last 1/2. YEAH!!! Map Sun Lakes, Arizona   Elevation (ft)

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