Lakelands Run

This morning's jaunt with Running Lab at Lakelands was an introspective treat.  Lakelands is a fast and flat rail trail and I found my pace was slower than midpack but faster than back of the pack; this pretty much gave me the dark predawn to myself. Also I forgot my watch today which meant I had no way to check that I was keeping a consistent pace and how far I had gone.  It all factored into the surreal feeling of being alone in the dark with no idea how how far to go.  I just tried to focus on foot falls and counting my breaths.  A lovely meditative time. 
At the turn around I passed and cheered on the back of the pack. I found myself going slower on the way back, so decided to do Fartlecks and pick up pace to reach certain goals like a downed tree ahead or the road crossing; Then let myself slow for 40 paces.  No watch makes these games more interesting.  My feet were starting to hurt from the pavement so I switched to running on the gravel at the side of the path, which helped immensely. For future reference the side of Lakelands is nice flat gravel and no cambered edge, very run-able and more comfortable than the pavement. 
As I  reached the second to last road crossing I was passed by a couple of other women and their pace was fast enough I didn't feel like pushing myself to keep up.  Then a third runner caught up to me and I was not going to let her pass.  I picked up pace, then she picked up pace, then I picked up pace and the two of us had a nicely matched stride as we approached the last road crossing.  We caught up to the other couple ahead who had slowed to a walk.  I cleared my throat and one of them jumped and yelped.  She heard my feet in the gravel and thought my throat clearing was the snort of a horse.  She thought a horse was coming up fast behind her.  I couldn't stop laughing at the startled look on her face...does this mean I can enter the Clydesdale division? 
Selfie with my Dawn Sister!