"Xtra Loads" better

Today I ran 7 miles with the XL vest on. The first mile was mainly flat with a slight incline for half a mile and then the larger undulations and hilly bits started. From 2.5 to 3 miles (which seems to be my difficult point judging by all running I do) I came to a long slow incline with a terrible camber as the road bends to the left. I find this difficult to run on a "normal" run so I had to grit my teeth through it today. I got much further than I normally do, by picking points ahead and running up to them... then picking another point. Eventually I was reduced to a walk for a short time then off I went again. The second walk break was very shortly afterwards on another long incline. I gave myself a bit of a talking to and decided that for the rest of the 7 miles I wasn't allowed to walk.
Despite some really steep (and bending) roads, I stuck to the plan and kept going. One hill in particular hurt, but I didn't stop for a second... not even at the top.

As it is an out and back, there were only 2 sharp inclines on the way home, and I felt extremely comfortable throughout. At one point I felt like I could have ran much further than 7 miles. As I ran into my street and stopped the Garmin, I began to walk and thought "ooohhh", my legs felt like I'd ran much further. They have felt rather tired all day too.

I'm really pleased with today though... but who would have thought such a small amount of extra weight would make such a difference. It's either totally amazing or I'm just a total weak wimp! In my defence though... I have started running much hillier routes, which will also be making a difference, I'm sure.