There's Something About Training...

It just makes ya feel good.

Today, the plan was 6 easy miles. I got out there and felt tight...and tired...and whiny.

And so I ran faster.

And see...there are these race markings all over my neighborhood from a 5K/10K race that I missed by 2 days. I was obsessing about my jury and final in New Jersey and people here were racing past the very house I grew up in. Not fair.

But, the markings are still there. They're spray painted, so they'll probably be there for a while. I bet you're starting to see what idea sprouted in this little brain of mine...

I jogged to the start (.7m) and then raced the 10K.

Okay, here's some honesty. I wasn't really racing. It's pretty much impossible (for me anyway) to run at race pace without the adrenaline and excitement of an actual race...not to mention the course support races tend to provide...

But, I did run much faster than usual. I ran faster than I had planned. I went from feeling like crap to feeling pretty damn good and finishing the last .2 of the 6.2 in 1 minute and 35 seconds. I averaged an 8:45 pace throughout. For an off day, that's some kind of kick ass pace for me.

It did make me realize that I'm going to have to bust my (sadly ever increasing due to home cooked food) gut for my supposed 5.6m at an 8:02 pace in New Orleans on January 7, but I do believe that with the next two weeks of consistent speed work, I'll get there...or I'll be close. And either way is fine...these are just goals, not life and death sentences, eh?

I ended the day with the .7m jog home and felt like the superhero I sometimes I pretend I am.

And I realized (yes, once again), that I really love this stuff. I love that I can do it and that so recently I couldn't do it and I love being outside and I love how it makes me feel afterwards and even if sometimes it hurts and I'm cursing up a storm I even love the pain and I love every minute of it.

There's just something about training...