I have to run how far???

I've been wanting to write about my 10 miler last weekend since it happened. I'm actually going to post splits this time in an effort to relive the run.

Mile 1: 9:56 <-- Waaaaaay to fast.
Mile 2: 10:26 <-- More like it
Mile 3: 10:51 <-- Aaaah just right
Mile 4: 10:46 <--I could do this all day
Mile 5: 10:25 <--What got into me, did I remember there were 5 left?
Mile 6: 11:56 <--Yup. I remembered and I got depressed
Mile 7: 10:58 <--Ok back on track. I can do this
Mile 8: 11:42 <--Hills. Crap. No I can't.
Mile 9: 11:43 <--Just don't die, just don't die......
Mile 10: 11:41 <--Tear. That was rough.

How many miles next weekend???? That's the 10 miles in a nutshell. Around mile 5 I headed to Lake Harriet and I HATE going there when tired because of the roller coaster hills. Lucky for me I'm good at hills. Um yeah. I walked, I jogged, I walked some more. I whined. I know; so unlike me. And then I said to myself "Sweetheart" - because that's what I call myself when trying to be encouraging - "you're only 1/2 way. If you dink around like this it's going to take forever to finish up" And with that I set time constraints to make myself run for periods of time. I don't think I walked a terrible amout. Maybe every 5 minutes or more, so my pace really slowed too during the last 1/2. Yikes. It was rough. This week though, I have been in mad taper mode which seems to work well for me. I skipped swimming and started eating. Aaaah - the good life.

I wish I could say I was looking forward to Grandma's 1/2 this weekend but I'm not really. It's not so much the distance, but I'm not looking forward to the race. Getting up early (4AM early), the crowd, the drive up north, the crowd. The crowd. Ug. I'm not excited about this race at all. Maybe it is in part for the distance, but for whatever reason this race seems more like a hassle than fun. But none the less, McMillan says I can do this race in 2 hours and 21 minutes because I can run 1 mile in 8:50 so I'm gonna give it a shot. That's 10:48 minute miles for you kids playing along at home.

That would totally rock to do that.

I'm going to schedule another 1 mile timed trial next Wednesday. We'll see how that goes. Excited to see if I have improved at all. Stay tuned.......