Monday, March 8, 2010

I love to hate running

So I did it. I ran 6 miles this weekend. And despite the fact that I dreaded it up until the moment I was done--I did it. And I'll continue to do it. I've only ran 6 miles once before. And when I did it, I really ran/walked...it took about 1 hour, 20 minutes if my memory serves me correctly. This time, I ran it in 1 hour, 12 minutes. Which is a 12-minute pace....WAY too slow for what I'd like, but hey----I'm doing it, right?

Right now, I run about 13 miles/week. Which is really nothing. At this point in my training schedule, I would really like to be running, at minimum, 15 miles/week. I should hit that this week, though. 4.5 miles today, 5 miles on Wed, 3 miles on Friday, and 4.5 miles on Sat. And, yes--I guess they are getting a little easier. I mean, running 2 miles really is nothing to me. I can run that straight through, no problem, at an 11/min pace. If you would have told me that I can do that 2 months ago, I would have laughed. And I'm hoping, that in another 2 months, I can say that I can run 4 miles straight through, no problem. Cause right now, I have to walk about 2-3 times, for about 15-30 seconds.

Originally, my goal was to run the mini at a 10 minute pace, putting my finishing time around 2 hours, 18 minutes. But that really seems unlikely. I am truly a beginner runner, who is somewhat out-of-shape. I mean, yes--I've got a little extra junk in the trunk. Er, okay. I've got a lot of it, whatever. I'm no Elle Macpherson. But I work out regularly (meaning, 3 times/week) and eat somewhat healthy. I just don't eat healthy all the time. What can I say? I love food! So that said, I've changed my goal to finish the mini at an 11 minute pace. It's still going to be challenging for me, but it's totally doable. I really need to up my training runs throughout the week, pushing myself to not walk. If I do that, than I should be able to finish the race in 2 hours, 40 minutes.

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