Why does the new U2 song start out “1, 2, 3, 14” anyway? Catchy, but weird.
What a weekend — I feel (and in some ways, look) like someone used me as a punching bag. My right ring finger is still swollen and bruised after jamming it during Saturday’s goalkeeper practice with Matt and Josh, my left index finger is sore after being bent backward during the game last night, the goose egg on my ankle has turned a lovely shade of purple, my kicking foot is bruised from one too many goal kicks taken between Saturday’s practice and last night’s game, and my quads and gluts are tight and sore, sore, sore from the 25K yesterday.
Oh, and my arms are sore from who knows what.
My stint as goalkeeper went about as well as I could’ve expected. We lost the game 3-0. One of the goals was completely legitimate; it was a one-on-one situation, me versus a good striker. In that situation, a good forward always wins, and she did, popping the ball into the back corner of the net. The other two goals were miffs on my part. Oh well. They scored all three in the first half, but I played much better in the second half and didn’t let anything past me.
The 25K went better than expected, which is a major relief. I finished in 2:54:07 for an average pace of 11:14 per mile. Even more encouraging was the fact that I ran miles 3-12 at a flat 11:00 pace. I took the first couple miles slower, and once I passed the half marathon mark and started setting a new personal distance record with every step, it was as if my legs suddenly went “hey…what are you doing??…we’ve never gone this far before…whoa, whoa, whoa!…we’re not sure we like this!…” So my last few miles were slower as well, and by the last mile I’d fallen to 12:00 pace.
But overall I’m happy with the outcome. My goal pace for the full marathon is 11:00 miles (which would be a 4:48 marathon), and with 2 months still to train, it just might happen. The weather was perfect for running, in my opinion anyway — overcast and about 55 degrees. A little too windy, but oh well.
