I ran 7 miles today. It’s not my first time, but it’s still a milestone. It’s the longest duration (1:22:45) and tied for my longest distance at 7.27. I mistakenly thought 7.22 was my longest, or I would’ve held out for another hundredth of a mile.
Either way, I felt accomplished by the end. It was a challenging run, to be sure, and hills of mile 5 showed in the mile 6 split. We came in strong on mile 7, and claimed the win.
Nike Zoom Pegasus 29 – my “old pinks”
The biggest news: my feet held up. I ran in my old Pegasus 29s, which have over 500 miles! Not surprising, I had overall leg fatigue and my foot started to peter out at the end, but nothing like the pain and discomfort I felt with new Brooks Launch. This means those Brooks are as good as gone. I wish there was a way to give running shoes a 20 mile trial period before committing to them.
It’s clear a life of running is in my future, so my approach to shoes will be a little different moving forward. I’ve scoped out some potential replacements, and I’ll get a new pair before my next milestone, an 8-mile run coming up soon.
Today I claim total victory. I ran a personal best, smashing all of my previous times for an average pace below 10 minutes a mile.
This is huge news for someone who never thought she’d run distance for fun, and who once believed the occasional dip below a 12-minute mile was cause for celebratory cheers.
Typical pace from earlier this year.
And this, in a nutshell, is one of the things I most love about running.
Running is a daily opportunity to set tangible goals and work toward them. Funny thing about running – it brings you face to face with reality. Sometimes the weather isn’t cooperating; do you run in the rain or sweltering sun anyway? Sometimes your body isn’t cooperating; do you wrap the knee or rest it? Sometimes time isn’t on your side; should you cut your run in half or just wait until another day? Or maybe the laundry has piled up; do you wear those uncomfortable shorts and hike them up the whole time, or…?
Decisions. It’s extremely rare when I can say my run and the stars are in complete alignment. Despite the snooze button, my failure to wash clothes, Mother Nature’s quirks or anything else, I often decide to run anyway.
And maybe today’s run sucked: I was slow, it was hard to breathe, I was hot, cold, etc. Maybe today’s run was perfect: I hit my target pace, I had great form, it was a glorious temperature with a refreshing breeze. But true glory lies within the confines of whatever the circumstances are. In other words, no matter what, I have the opportunity to do my best – realizing that “best” may look very different under varying circumstances.
Today’s circumstances were pretty favorable. And in the past week I’ve surprised myself, shaving two and a half minutes off my “typical” total time. For the first time since I began running over two years ago, the 10-minute average pace was within my grasp!
Monday’s run was literally a couple of seconds shy of the 10-minute pace. I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as I yanked my skort up and down throughout the run, finally stopping to give it a good pull.
This is what a wardrobe malfunction will do.
Going out this morning, my aim was what it always is – to have fun and do my best. Honestly, I didn’t think I had it in me to top that 10:01 pace today. Usually, I run fastest after more than a couple of days of rest. When I touched the gate at the end of my run and stopped the clock, I cheered my time. 39:10 (9:48 average pace). Total victory!
Now that’s what I call a personal record!
I have no idea what my next run will be like. Will it be warm or chilly? Will my knee be irritable? Will I add back all the time I’ve shaved? I don’t really know. But I do know that I’ll enjoy my run, and I’ll do my best, whatever that means at the moment. In the end, I can’t win in the past. I can’t win in the future. I can only win in the present moment. And so can you.
