26K (16 mile) Long Run Around Lucan... Alone!

I was supposed to do a Horse Trials tomorrow (Sunday) at Highland Green but because of all the rain we had, it was cancelled. Unfortunately, I didn't know this fact until I was already back from my long run alone around Lucan. Here is my route:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6454509

Anyhow, I wasn't able to run with the group. But the route I took worked out well. It wasn't easy -- quite a few hills -- and the wind was howling from the west, so my runs into that direction were definitely slower. Here are my splits:

5:28
5:25
5:11
5:15
5:25
5:09
5:11
5:10
5:14
5:19
5:18
5:24
5:23
5:20
5:24
5:25
5:14
5:26
5:25
5:24
5:21
5:27
5:30
5:32
5:32
4:58

I stopped twice along the route -- once 9 miles (15K) in at Clarke's variety to guzzle a half bottle of Coca-cola, and again briefly at the 22K mark to check out a trail we'd built as part of the Lucan Area Trails Association.

But I was happy that I was able to pickup the pace to sub 5-minute kilometres for that last K. Even though I was headed south, the strong wind from the west wasn't making that pace easy to achieve.

My average pace was 5:20 per kilometre -- exactly what I was targeting. All-in-all, a very acceptable long run just 2 weeks away from the marathon.