Another 13.1 run for the books...

The weather this week has been cool and nice, which is unseasonable this early in Fall for Taiwan. I expected this Saturday morning to be the same as last night the air was still cool enough to push a hard 20 min bike sprint on my way home. I set out at 6:15am or so and knew that no matter what, I was going to hit 13.1 today. I ran out of water at mile 9 and had to ask a tea shop for a refill. The heat was killing me by 7:30am! I ran along the new and unopened highway along the river in Taiping, hugging the wall for the limited shade it provided.
I ran 13.18 miles in 1:41:21 with an average pace of 7:41/mile. I need to bring that down to 7:36 in order to hit my goal of a sub-1:40 half marathon. Two surprises happened on this run. One, I got a huge second wind just after the 10 mile mark and held a solid race pace the last 2 miles. Second, I got a blister in a spot where I've never even had a hot spot. By mile 9 I started feeling loose skin but pushed on. Surprisingly, I still had some juice at the end, so next week I think I'll do a 14+ at a slower pace.
When I got home, I opted for a nice cold soak in the bath. No ice, just cold water. I was really hoping for a long nap and some old X-Files with my wife, but we have to go to Taipei for an 8-hour commercial shoot. It sure beats teaching English!
3.5 weeks until my first 13.1.

MILE	TIME	AVG.PACE
1	7:56	7'56"/mi
2	15:30	7'34"/mi
3	23:07	7'37"/mi
4	30:37	7'30"/mi
5	38:16	7'39"/mi
6	45:56	7'40"/mi
7	53:46	7'50"/mi
8	1:01:49	8'03"/mi
9	1:09:35	7'46"/mi
10	1:17:31	7'56"/mi
11	1:25:15	7'44"/mi
12	1:32:49	7'34"/mi
13	1:40:05	7'16"/mi