So I regressed a little into last week’s laziness, skipping my Thursday 5-miler and my Saturday 8-miler. I blame the start of college football season for yesterday’s absence. I can’t rightfully go out and run when there’s Big Ten games to be watched, right? Anyway, today was a planned thirteen miler, although it was probably more like 13.5 or 14 since I missed a turn around mile 8. Whoops. I started out a little too quick, which wasn’t helped when I noticed there were two guys running behind me a few miles in. I sped up, out of a combination of competitiveness (can’t let them catch me!) and introversion (can’t let them talk to me!). Of course, ten minutes later, when I finally realized they had taken a different turn than I had, I found myself face to face with possibly the steepest, not to mention longest, hill I’ve encountered this summer. That made me regret my quick starting pace. But, what goes up must come down, and the downhill set the mood for the second half of the run, which was surprisingly smooth and relaxing. Overall, not bad for my first long run in two weeks.