I ran 14.65 miles in 2:15:34 this morning. That’s about 45 seconds per mile slower than my worst long run (of 20 miles) recently, and 75 seconds per mile slower than my marathon pace in Indy.

However, this was a nice, calming experience. The first natural light didn’t start appearing until I was near mile 10.

There are a couple of neighborhoods that I cut through to safely get from Bardstown Road to Hurstbourne Parkway and then from Taylorsville Road to Billtown Road. I usually head in the opposite direction first when doing pre-dawn runs, so I had no idea that a couple of those neighborhoods are lit up like Christmas trees. I have to admit that the uniform lighting gives some strange sense of security which disappears when heading on to the intermittent street lights and sparse cars on the main road before dawn on a weekend.

Running right at dawn seems to put just about any neighborhood in its most picturesque view. I run through a neighborhood that isn’t visually appealing in the daylight, but the fact that it is laid out on a hill gives it a clear view of the dawn peaking over the hills.