that's more like it

i woke up earlier than normal for a saturday to get my run in before heading down to columbia for the state xc meet. it was quite the accomplishment to a) get up early, b) actually run all 10 miles on schedule at marathon goal pace, and c) do all of that alone 'cause j didn't get up to bike with me. (although, i told him not to since i'd be starting my run before the sun came up). feels good to have the run done and not hanging over me still, especially since it is pretty darn warm out for november 8 (not that i am complaining, i hate the cold).

the state meet was of course very exciting. leave it to me to read the wrong time and miss the girls' race!! whoops. i was able to watch the boys 4a race though, and dorman pulled out a win over fort mill to take the championship title again. the girls did well too, placing 6th in the state and katie made all-state placing 5th overall!

so back to my run this morning... i headed out with the goal of running an 8:00-8:23 pace. ultimately i'm aiming for an 8:00 marathon pace, but if i can hold an 8:23 or better i'll earn a ticket to boston. i had a couple miles over 8:23 but i also had a couple miles under 8:00 so it evened out to an 8:07 avg pace - goal accomplished for today.

mile 1 - 8:29, 150
mile 2 - 8:08, 173
mile 3 - 7:31, 169
mile 4 - 8:19, 174
mile 5 - 8:03, 177
mile 6 - 8:13, 174
mile 7 - 8:21, 179
mile 8 - 8:35, 176
mile 9 - 7:33, 179
mile 10 - 7:59, 181

i realized when i finished the run that i wasn't that tired. there were times during the run where i was 'feeling it', but i finished feeling pretty refreshed. part of that has to be the confidence boost in running a good, somewhat long, goal paced run. i noticed during the run (particularly on the uphills) that my core sucks. i am already quite aware of this, but i definitely felt it more when i had no support or strength from my core when i tried to maintain my pace up hill. i am reallllly going to try hard at getting in some abs/core work at least 3x/week. more would be great, but i know i am often too lazy to get down on the floor and just do some freakin' abs.

am run: 10 miles, 1:21:15 (8:07 avg pace), avg/max hr (173/187)