Overdue 10 Miles

I was supposed to run 10 miles the day I ran the Houston County Fair 5k. Once I finally got home, I took a shower and watched Alabama beat Arkansas. I kept telling myself that I would run it "tomorrow". Sherri had a baby shower to go to after church, so she went to church in Erin and I went to church in Clarksville. After I got home from church, I rode the riding mower over the yard. I hated to do that on a Sunday, but it really didn't need mowing except in a few places. I thought I would run after - didn't happen. Instead, I watched football and ate junk food, just like the day before. Monday, I will get back on track... Again, it didn't happen. Sherri and I went to eat at Chili's after work. Chili's was donating the day's proceeds to the St. Jude's Children's Hospital. (In case you didn't know, I had a step-sister (Richie and Misty's half-sister) die from cancer when she was 18. Her mother and step-father moved her to Memphis. She's the reason I really wanted the St. Jude's Marathon to be my first marathon.) Well, I concluded that it was too dark to run by the time we got home.

Finally, on Tuesday, I would run. In calculating on how many miles I wanted to run, I added the 10 miles I missed Saturday, the 4 miles missed Monday, and the miles coming up for Wednesday (6), and Thursday (4), which gave me a total of 24 miles. I divided the 24 by 3 days (T,W,Th) for 8. I could run 8 miles each day to get my mileage back on track. However, I really wanted to complete the long run of 10 miles. I decided I would run 5 miles away from home and turn around. If I could only do 8, I would walk the last 2 and run 8 each of the following 2 days. If I could do 10, I would adjust the next 2 runs.

Although I hadn't had much to eat today (I had plenty of fuel stored up from the weekend) and did not carry a drink with me, I ran 10 miles. I felt good - real good. Better than I have felt on 4 and 5 milers. I guess the 68 degree temperature added to the comfort and easiness of the run. I've listed my times per mile, because I am amazed (and proud) at them:

1. 8:41
2. 9:15
3. 9:38
4. 9:49
5. 9:46
6. 9:38
7. 9:10
8. 9:35
9. 9:10
10. 8:38

Of course, Mile 1 was one of my fastest (second), since I have the tendency to start off too fast. My last mile was my fastest, mainly because I was on the main road for at least half of it, and I was trying to hurry so I wouldn't get ran over, because a car couldn't see me - it was just after 7:00 pm. I was hoping to average 10:00 per mile, so I was real happy to see that every mile was under 10:00. When I saw the time for Mile 4 (and Mile 5), I figured the later miles would be over 10:00, but somehow I ran them faster. I didn't push myself; I just ran a comfortable pace, except for part of Mile 10. Enough of the "bragging"...

Once again, no heart rate monitor battery and I would have liked to have seen the numbers. My overall pace was 1:33:19, a pace of 9:20.