In less than 2-weeks, I'll be down in Orlando getting ready for the Disney World Marathon.I haven't been running on pavement in many weeks. The whole Disney race will be on pavement as it snakes through the different parks. (The race actually starts out on the double lane freeway outside of Epcot.) Obviously my legs work differently on different surfaces so I was happy that the weather today cooperated for my first outdoor run in a long time. Temp was about 45 F and damp. Snow & ice melting all around me.
I did my old trusty "7 mile loop" today. I ran on wet pavement, icy shoulders, muddy gravel, mud, snow and dry pavement. My GPS watch recorded a 8:31/mi pace for the route. I was a bit bummed that the pace wasn't faster. Questioned myself repeatedly about whether I'm actually in any better shape than 6-months ago. The fact is that running is hard for me. It's a physical and mental game. I didn't run the 7 miles at a sub-8 pace, but I could have simply turned around and run the whole 7 miles again at about the same pace. That is a good improvement from 6-months ago.
The minute/mile pace things is really only a concern to runners. I'm sure it sounds like blah, blah, blah, blah to normal people, but it is important to me. It's a straight up measure of how I'm doing. Running is simple. How long did it take me to go this far?
It's Christmas Eve so now...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
