8 miles at lunch.
I'm running the Gasparilla 15k on Saturday. This is usually the winter peak race for local runners, by way of tradition, temperature and prize money.
When I hit the skids this winter, I didn't plan to run it at all and planned for an alternate goal. I never ended up getting into shape, so that plan went out the window too.
In the last couple weeks, I think I've started turning the ship around. I still don't have any good workouts or races to point to. And I know I'm nowhere near PR shape. But I do think the race on Saturday is a chance to take a step forward.
Mentally, it's a little challenging to settle for a goal that will put me well out of the competition and is 15-20 seconds per mile slower than last year. But I do feel I need to start challenging myself if I am going to train seriously this summer.
The alternate - just running to stay in shape - sounds pretty good in contrast. But I'd like to at least give myself the option of how I train for the rest of the year rather than letting it all go right now.
So...I'll be shooting for around 53:30, about 5:45 pace. One one hand, that sounds pretty easy considering I almost broke 51 a year ago. On the other, I haven't run sub-6 minute miles for any sustained distance in months. So it's far from a slam dunk, but hopefully not completely impossible.
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