Beautiful Weather

Distance: 10.5 miles
Time: 1:42:55
Quality: 8/10

A low pressure system hit AZ this weekend and the morning run on Sunday was 49 degrees at the start. Ohhhhh, it felt great. I even wore a dark shirt, as I knew that I would not be burning up at the end of the run. Also, the route was an out-and back on the AZ Canal (still highly recommend it for any Arizona runner out there!!), with us going into the breeze and against the canal for the first half. I noted to Brice that we'd be hauling ass on the way back, but I was only joking...or so I thought.

We both felt good and stepped it up the last half of the run with our final four miles at a 9:04 pace. Ok, so that's not quite 'hauling ass' (Eric, my brother, on his worst run might see a mile at 8:10, so we have a way to go before we could honestly say we were going fast). Nontheless, it felt good to be moving at a pace that felt like a full jog as opposed to a death-march-shuffle of the feet.

Also, I was glad that I opted to NOT wear the heart rate monitor on Sunday. I'm sure that it would have triggered some sort of 911 alert and scrambled a Search and Rescue team for me. Also, also, as I'm writing this the day after the run, I must note that my quads, glutes, calves, and quads are all very aware that they put in extra effort yesterday and they are not afraid to tell me that.

I have a bit of hope that I'll be able to look at a Marathon pace that will get me in at 4:30 or better. We'll see. I have to keep reminding myself that distance is more important than pace right now. In fact, whenever I get the urge to chase down a runner who crosses my path on my morning runs, I chant "distance, not pace" to myself. It tends to pull me back a little.

Now get back to work.