8.40 Miles. Did 1.75 mile warmup and planned on doing and "out-n-back" tempo run of 5 miles at 6:10. Saw Josse, Jeff & Sasha right as I was about to start and Sasha said he'd pace me. I thought I'd have a better chance of doing it with the S.F. (Sasha Factor). Felt pretty good up until the turnaround, and then I could tell I was fading. Sasha wanted me to "catch the 6-minute guy". I was about 10 seconds off. First two miles were 6:05, 6:02, and we'd lost a few seconds on another .3 we'd gone. After he dropped off, I tried to make use of the very slight downhill, and ended up finishing that mile at 5:58. Subconciously, I think I didn't want fade as a result of not having my pacer, so I picked it up a little. At this time I was struggling pretty bad with my arms going numb. I resorted to trying to catch the "4 mile guy" at this point. I think on a better day I could've done all five (and if they were at 6:10). As a consolation to dropping it to a 4 mile tempo, I did the last one at 5:56. I was beat. I dry-heaved a couple of times, but luckily it was an empty chamber. Finished with a few more slow 9:00ish miles and called it a morning. I might try to get a few more in tonight. I feel good considering a couple of months ago I couldn't hang with Sasha, Jeff and Daniel at a 6:00 pace for even a mile. Thanks Sasha for you help/encouragement! | 