The road to 13.1: Conquering the hill

I tried something a little new this week: I didn’t run on Sunday. After a very long run last Saturday, it seemed like a good idea. Besides, my body was tired. I was way tired before the long Saturday run, so, to follow up my Saturday afternoon of doing nothing and my Saturday evening of sitting at my desk, I did almost completely nothing on Sunday.

Hooray!

Monday, after work, I headed out and did the Maple Street hill run with the SHufflers. While my time wouldn’t impress most folks, I found it to be nothing short of spectacular!

Run #38: 5 miles, 49:40, 9:55.9/mile

Yes, I seriously kept my average pace under 10 minutes per mile, despite having to conquer Maple Street twice. My slow mile was 10:16, and my last mile was a solid 9:21.

Dear Christina, Gayle, Mary, and Sheila,

Yes, I had a good run. A great run, even. No, I do not think that it’s solely because I took off Sunday. Don’t hold this over me. Nonetheless, I still love and respect you all.

Sincerely,

Darrell

Tuesday, I wasn’t able to hook up with anyone for my speed work, so I headed out on the Portage Creek Bicentennial Trail all by myself … in the rain.

Run #39: 6.01 miles, 57:26, 9:33.3/mile

While I didn’t do the math, I think that pace would have had me under 1 hour for a 10-kilometre run. Hooray! It’s exciting, and sort of unnerving, to see my speed continuing to develop. I really don’t know for sure where my race pace is going to be. I know where I’d like it to be, and I know where I think I’m going to run the race, but I don’t know for sure whether any of them are particularly appropriate. At the same time, though, I feel like it’s a great problem to have….