Flat Long Run, Fast Finish

Plan: Run 15 miles.  Spend lots of time on the Rush Creek Trail becuase that's been in the best condition of anything all year.  Try to head north from the dam along River Rd because that would be new.  And head south from the dam along River Rd because you'll need the distance.  And maybe stay off the Anoka Co side because that was bad last time.
Actual Mileage: 15.29

Route: Part of what happened in my "Plan" is that I didn't know how far out I could get on Rush Creek Trail. I know it goes into Elm Creek and those paths are for sure not plowed, but I didn't know the exact mileage, that's why I had all of these other "go north a ways, go south a ways" spurs planned in my head.
"Out" 5.5 miles along Rush Creek Trail. I never got lost but at mile 5.5 I had to cross one of two major roads, and I was just out of my reckoning at that intersection, so that's where I turned around and headed 'back' to the dam.  Once I got back to the starting point,
"Out" 2 miles south along River Rd.  Then 'back' 2 miles to the starting point for a total of roughly 15 miles.
Weather: Here's why I was running today: It was 34* and sunny.  Like, I had to wear sunglasses it was so bright.  There were some winds but nothing ridiculous.  Between tomorrow and Sunday we're supposed to get 8-12" of snow.

Wardrobe:
Bottom: Pink pants.  I love these pants but something weird (bad) is happening with one of the seams.  I need my Pooky Bear to look at it and make sure they're not going to fall apart.
Top: Long sleeve shirt; grey sweat shirt (the purple one was dirty)
Feet: Wool compression socks; Altra Superior Trail Shoes
Other: Sunglasses! Hat to start with, then downgraded to an ear band; I had gloves and a gaiter in case but I didn't use them.  I had my Nathan hydration vest as well.

Execution:
Warm up: Roughly 0.3 miles Walking
Miles 0.3-13 - easy running, just loping along.  My knee kept getting stiff (it is so not happy this winter) so I'd pick up my cadence whenever that happened.
Mile 14 - I ran this mile kind of hard.  Because I felt bad there weren't really any hills on this route, so I needed to make it harder in some way.
Mile 15 and up - I did a run walk followed by a walk to finish.  I felt okay but was glad to be done!

Nutrition: This was not a fasted run.  I had actually a big meal a few hours before I ran because this was later in the day.  During the run I had water basically whenever I wanted it. I had 1 chew at mile 3, and then 2 chews at miles 6, 9, and 12.
From today, I learned: I am strongly considering racing in this vest because "water whenever I wanted it" is a nice perk, and it's really nice around mile 23 as I recall.
Bonus: I had supper with Olive.  I am currently doing laundry so this is also a bit of a productivity bonus.