i ran a 5k on saturday before my sister arrived–the lunar rendezvous run, one of the few that are actually held within a few miles of my apartment (thus allowing me a few extra precious moments of sleep). it’s july in houston, which meant it was scorching outside, and yet i still somehow managed to turn in my best 5k time since december! 30:46. it’s been discouraging lately to see how my times, which were improving so steadily at the end of last year, have dropped off this year as i cut back on my running in hopes of curing my shin splints. the best race i think i’ve run to date was the rockets run back in january, but since the course was short, i’ll never know for certain. since then, my times just seemed to get worse and worse.
but on saturday i did well. i ran the first mile in 9:15 (9:15!! good lord, i don’t run that fast!) and slowed down to just over 10 minutes per mile after that. but 30:46. i am pretty happy.
as an aside, it is endlessly interesting to me that 30:46 makes me so happy. 50% of the population can probably run faster than that without a problem, not to mention the fact that world class runners can run the distance in less than half that time. i will never run that fast; it’s just not in my body to do so. and yet it’s still my goal to get to sub-30:00 on a consistent basis. that’s all. it’s funny.
c’est la vie.
