What a difference a few days make. What a difference the weather makes for running. What a difference it makes to get off my butt and run more.On Sunday I ran in hot upper-90s weather. Had to walk on and off to even complete my 7 mile run (walk). I didn't run on Monday or Tuesday. Gave my legs a chance to recover fully from doing 18 miles in 24 hours over the weekend.
Today it was much cooler. I think it was about 74 F this evening. I set out with my asics shoes, my shorts/shirt, nike sunglasses, coolmax socks, Garmin ForeRunner 201 watch, fuelbelt with Accelerade to drink and my trusty Treo 650 & Jabra. I forgot to wear a hat. Good thing it was in the evening since I sunburn easily.
Since it was cooler, I had a few days rest and my last outing was VERY slow, I knew I was going to push it a bit this time. My times during July have "increased" instead of decreased, but the temps out have also been hot, hotter and hell. Well, I kicked it in with a faster pace right down my driveway to the road. I cleared the 1/2 mile at a bit over 4 minutes. I talked myself into a slightly slower pace. I hit the 5k, my GPS watch beeps, and I'm at 25:48. (Back in May I ran a 5k race slower than that.) I continued on. Decided to decreased my pace slightly, but keep pushing. Drank some Accelerade. Took a few pictures at "my spot" right before the 4 mile point. Thought about doing my iRun podcast, but it was too breezy and I didn't know if I could actually podcast and keep a good pace.
I hit 5 miles at 43 minutes and some seconds. I didn't record that exactly, but it's a spot where I turn onto another road heading north. I knew I had never gotten there that quickly. Now it's a straight mile and half on the road to my final turn. I talked to myself (inside my brain) about being on a record pace for this 7 mile loop. I realized that it was "possible" that I could keep this up all the way home. I then started considering whether to do my iRun podcast. Finally I just decided to do it. I got out the Jabra earpiece. Dialed the audioblogger number and did it. Here's the podcast while booking down the road running:
I cleared 10k at 53 minutes and something seconds. Whatever I said on the podcast. I forgot to hit the lap button on my watch. (My fastest race 10k was 49:55 a few years ago.)
I made the turn for home for the final home stretch. I finished in 58:35! My first time EVER in under an hour. I've actually never completed this 6.9 loop in under 61 minutes.
I am smiling! (dancing in my mind)
