Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Great Pace Run

When I arrived home after work I'd already been passed by a couple of cars going 55-60 mph in a 45 mph zone. When I stretched out on the bedroom floor I almost, well actually I did, drift off to sleep for a couple of minutes. When I ran, I started off feeling sluggish and then had one of the best pace runs of my running life.

After yesterday's slow run I was ready to nail the accelerator, and I first started running my legs and hips and entire body just felt tired. But when I looked at the Garmin after a couple of minutes my pace was under 9:30/minute. This is supposed to be a warm-up, I thought. When I hit the main drag and looked again, the pace was under 9 minutes/mile, but I just attributed that to the blonde in the convertible who'd just passed me. For some reason that cause me to run faster. My plan called for 8-minute miles after a mile of easing into it, and initially my pace was about 8:30, but that was going uphill. After I made the turn and the slope was downward I got in the groove. I tried to stay loose and to stay in good form with both legs and arms. By the time I was just past two miles my pace was under 8 minutes/mile, and even though I kept trying to slow down it stayed there. I finished the entire run at under 50 minutes for 6 miles, meaning my overall pace was under 8:20/mile. Dang, that's almost race pace for a half marathon!

Let's just say the cool weather helped out and that I am motivated these days to have quality runs. For the first time this year I have a full marathon I'm working toward and even though I'm not looking to set a PR I want to do well and not end up in traction after I'm finished. And by the way, nobody passed me on this run. There was no speed limit.

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