I was scared by the 10 miles on the schedule for this morning. Scared because I’ve missed a few Saturdays due to out-of-town trips, and because that means the longest run I’d done so far was 7 miles. Scared because we were scheduled to start at 5:35 a.m. Scared because I assumed it would be hot. But dang it — I rocked my 10-miler this morning! And it has put me in the best mood.
I woke up to one of the coolest mornings I’ve experienced so far, with the temperature hovering around 70 degrees. We took off in the dark, and I had no idea what time the sun would rise. It didn’t poke its head over the horizon until I was well on my way back to the high school, and I found that I enjoyed running in the dark, and into the growing dawn. There was little traffic, and I had to laugh to myself as the huge pack of runners, probably 200 in size, rumbled softly through the neighborhoods past all the dark houses. The route this week was different, and I loved having houses and golf courses to look at instead of the endless trees and concrete of Middlebrook and Space Center.
I couldn’t believe how good I felt. I ran the first 5 miles non-stop. No walking. I have not run that far without walking in months. Months. And I ran them at 11:00 pace. Yes, 11:00. I couldn’t believe it.
At the turnaround, I walked for a couple minutes to drink some water and eat a goo. Vanilla orange Carb-boom, one of my favorites. On the way back, I fell into a run/walk pattern of running for five, or six, or eight minutes, whatever I felt like, and then walking for a minute. I was starting to feel the distance, and I didn’t want to completely wear myself out before the cross country relay this afternoon. The crowd of runners had thinned out long ago and I had a lot of space for myself. I listened to my music and watched the world get brighter.
I was glad to be done when I reached the parking lot, and I was very happy with my run and pace. My final average was 11:20 per mile. Do you know how much of a struggle an 11:20 pace is during the heat of the summer? Or the humidity of a summer morning?
I had to leave immediately without hanging around to chat thanks to some GI issues that worsened during the last 5 miles. I need to start figuring out what is going on with my stomach, that’s for sure.
But even that didn’t take away from today, because today was spectacular.
