I know my long runs are supposed to be slow. My training schedule says they are supposed to be about 60-90 seconds SLOWER than my marathon pace. Well… who the heck really knows what my marathon pace is since I have never ran one… but I am thinking 8:47. So my long runs are supposed to be at a 9:47, 10:17 per mile pace. BUT… there are TWO weeks before the marathon… and I am getting antsy.
At about the 7 mile mark of my run today… I noticed I wasn’t too far off 8 minute miles. (8:10 or so) I figured… what the heck… lets see if I can break 8 minute miles for the entire 14. I really didn’t feel like I was running that hard. I wasn’t breathing hard… I had no unusually aches or pains… I was just on cruise control.
When I crossed the finish line… my watch read exactly 8 minute miles. ARGH! You see… there is a huge psychological difference between 7:59 and 8:00 minute miles. One starts with a 7… and the other an 8. =) Somehow it just seems bigger than 1 second. That one second is a milestone just waiting to be shattered… much like the epic struggle for milers to break the 4 minute barrier... except well… it is twice as slow… and just me. =) .
My ½ marathon time was 1:45:00. I am not really sure if the is my fastest half marathon or not. I think so though. I January I had a 20K race that I finished at an 8:17 pace, but the weather was really bad.
Just two weeks! Two weeks from now I will be an official marathoner. Strange thing is… I don’t know when I even became a runner… but I guess somewhere along the way I passed that threshold.
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