A Fake PR

I was really going to get up this morning and go running.  Really.  Except I didn't.  So I brought stuff to run at work during my lunch instead.  The funniest part?  I actually got to work earlier than usual so that I could take a slightly longer lunch if needed.  Why I couldn't get up early to go running instead of getting to work early is beyond me.  Sometimes these things just don't make sense. 

When I started running, I sort-of had it in my head that I'd do 4 or 5 miles and then go back to work.  Except I started running and something about that hour-long treadmill limit was just taunting me today, so I figured I should go ahead and see if I could do a 10K in less than an hour.  I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I thought I would be able to do it. 

I started out running at 5.8 (10:20 pace) and held that for about 2 miles.  Then I just kept bumping up the pace from there.  Of course, I had to finish with a bit of a sprint and I kept getting really nervous that I had somehow not sped up early enough for it to come in under an hour, but somehow, I did it!  

Basically, I shattered my two previous standalone 10K times.  I shaved 1:15 off my last time of 1:01:11!  Except that I don't really think that this counts as a PR because it was on the treadmill and not in a race.  Doesn't mean that I'm not happy about it all the same, though! 

Truthfully, maybe wasn't the best idea to run this speedy 10K today, but it's done and I'm actually really happy about it.  Of course, on the flip side, all I could think about today while I was running was that I will have to run 20 miles and then a 10K in order to complete the marathon. Which seems crazy.  And really made me doubt my decision to sign up for this race at all.  I think tapering has already started to get to me and make me a little bit loopy. 

The other big news is that I signed up for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge.  You can click on the button on the right side of my blog for more info -- and think about signing up yourself!  The more the merrier!  It starts on November 20 and runs through January 7, so it's 7 weeks of keeping yourself active through the holiday season.  I'm actually pretty excited about it.  I think it'll be what I need to not give up entirely on working out after the marathon.

However, I have to say that I feel like I'm cheating a little bit with this whole challenge.  I mean, it starts the day before my marathon.  Which gives me an early lead on the competition!  Living in NYC also means that I walk at least two miles every day (walking to and from work).  All those points sort-of seem easy to me, but I'm sure that there will be a lot of stiff competition, so I'm really eager to see how things pan out after 7 weeks.  Just because I have an easy go of it on Day 2 of the challenge, doesn't mean I'm a guaranteed winner!  (I also cannot believe that I just typed that running a marathon would be "an easy go".  Tapering really must have made me loopy!)

Running
Time: 59:56
Distance: 6.20 miles
Pace: 9:39/mile