8 miles in the sweltering heat - 54:52

Since I had the day off Friday I decided to procrastinate like usual and I got tied up doing important things like playing xbox so I didn't get out for my run until 1:00 pm.  I don't mind doing easy days in the heat that much.  It's the hard workouts that are brutal.  I was feeling pretty good and was cruising around the park.  From my house to the "0" mile brick near the tennis center is 0.77 miles.  It usually takes me anywhere from 5:40 to 6:10 to get there depending on how I am feeling.  Usually if I hit it in 5:50 or less, I am feeling good and run quick for the day.  If I'm over 6 minutes, then I usually don't get under 7:00 pace for much or any of the run.  I figured I might be a little slower today because of the heat, but I got there in 5:45 so I knew I was feeling pretty good.  I felt really strong and kept picking up the pace each mile.  I didn't really feel like it was hard until mile 7.  I think I slowed down I little the last mile because I didn't want to run myself into the ground.  My splits were 7:22, 6:59, 6:51, 6:49, 6:46, 6:36, 6:35, 6:44.  My average pace for the run worked out to be 6:50.  I checked the weather when I finished and it was 88 degrees out and the heat index was 94.