Mother Nature refuses to give my Saturday morning running group a break.
Last week it was steady winds from the north. This week she switched it up a bit. It was still windy, but this time it was coming from the west. Which I guess was a good thing since most of the 10.25 mile route we covered was in the north/south direction.
It's the little things that make me happy. In this case, wind direction.
The group started out at a slightly faster pace than I wanted to run, so I hung back a bit. I didn't want to die with 4 miles left in what would be my longest run since the Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon in the beginning of December. So I hung back, chatted and ran with the head coach and another coach. I powered my way up the monster hill that always seems to pop up 2 miles before the end of the run.
Shortly afterwards, right around the 8 mile mark, I slowed down and took some orange GU Chomps. I've realized they're quite tasty when they hit that semi-frozen state. Almost like a soft Jolly Rancher. While taking the chomps and washing them down with a swig of water I took a short walk break (and therefore logged my slowest mile), but once done, it was back to running.
Two miles later I was heading back to the parking lot and done with the run. I finished the 10.25 miles in 1 hour, 58 minutes - right on the 11:30 min/mile pace I need for a 2:30 half marathon. It wasn't the best run. But it wasn't the worst run. It's one that I'll learn from and I'm sure it will help me the next few weeks as the mileage starts to creep up and race day approaches!
No comments:
Post a Comment