roadtorobusto » 26.2 marathon training sub-9 http://www.roadtorobusto.com Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:46:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Work vs. running: and I surprise myself http://www.roadtorobusto.com/2009/03/work-vs-running-and-i-surprise-myself/ http://www.roadtorobusto.com/2009/03/work-vs-running-and-i-surprise-myself/#comments Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:27:47 +0000 Entity http://www.roadtorobusto.com/2009/03/work-vs-running-and-i-surprise-myself/ So I had a post worked up talking about why I didn’t make it out to run today; I’ve got another few hours worth of work to get done and Kate is heading in for an MRI tomorrow, so I’m going to be in hanging out with her rather than in the office. Just as I was about to hit “publish,” I realized that today’s scheduled run (a 3) shouldn’t take more than 30min to clear, and no matter how busy I am, if I’m going to run this marathon I’m going to have to get used to clearing time.

So I did.

And wow, I’m glad I did. I decided to go for a hilly short route, just a tad over 3 miles, and I took Echo along with me. We started out at what felt like a fast pace uphill, but I wasn’t keeping a great eye on my watch, so I wasn’t sure. By the time we hit the crest of the hill at 1.5 miles in, we were only about 14min into the running, meaning I had averaged a faster than 9:30 on the hillier portion, where I normally hold around a 10, and with a hair over 1.7 left to go, we (well, mostly I) decided to press.

Finished with the fastest time for me of the year, 3.22 in 28:04, for an 8:42 pace.

Like I’ve disclaimed many times over, this is nothing special for a good runner, but I consider myself a dedicated runner more than a good runner. Maybe someday speed will be my goal, but for now I’m just focused on the run itself, having a good time, and being consistent — and after today’s mini-challenge, I’m glad I did.

Running, I less than three you.

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