Next Saturday, I run my first half marathon in almost 6 years! The last time I ran a half, I was ill prepared and probably 15-20 pounds heavier. It was June 2010 and my finishing time was an abysmal 2:46. Prior to that, I’d run 2-3 20k’s and my best time, when I was pretty fit, was 2:16 with an average pace of 10:36 per mile. I remember being pretty happy with that!
This time around, I’ve done speed and hill training and aggressively trained with a 6-week training plan. Every long run averages about 9:40 per mile no matter how far I run, so for today’s 11.2+ (18k) training run, I expected to finish around 9:40 per mile.
NOPE!
I finished 11.6 miles in 1:49:50 with an average pace of 9:28 per mile. I could not believe it! This is, by far, my best long run pace of all time. I was planning to run in a 2:15:00 pace group next weekend, but I’m thinking of joining the 2:00:00 pace group instead. I almost decided to just add another 1.5 miles to do a full marathon today, because I felt like I could for sure keep going, but I listened to reason and quit at 11.6 miles.
This next week has one goal – keep strong and uninjured for Saturday. I cannot get hurt!
ever-changing evermore 