Boston, here I come?

Well, I disappointed myself yesterday by not running at all, although there wasn't much I could do about it.  My stomach was acting screwy all day, and I never felt the risk was worth it to get some miles in.  Today it still wasn't perfect but I decided to go out anyway (ordinarily a terrible idea) and just make sure I could make a pit stop if necessary.  As it turned out I felt very close to normal the whole time, and kept extending the run (just do 3...ok, do 5...ok maybe 6, how about 8?) at a nice easy 7:29/mile pace.  Made it home without having to stop at all and I feel great about it.  This was definitely an exception though, in most cases the stomach gods have to be in perfect alignment.

Big day for my training..I got home and really didn't feel like heading out for a run.  It was chilly and windy and I was hungry; I thought my wife would be home not long after me and we'd make dinner.  So I was in my sweats and she called a little before 7 saying she was leaving work soon (much later than expected) and I still had time to run if I wanted to.  Inspired, I changed clothes and headed out for a solid 6.5 mile run at a very even 7:10/mile pace.  Tomorrow night we've got a cooking class date night (fancy pizza is the theme) so if I didn't get those miles in today I would have been pretty sour with myself.  As it is, I'm still on pace for a 100 mile month (well 98, but it's well within reach), which is a number I really want to reach every month this year.  

What a run - the best ones are always unexpected!  I started off normal enough, at 7:12/mile for the first two miles and not pushing hard at all.  Sped up a bit over the next few miles before reaching the steep hill around the college.  I decided that I wanted to keep a good, non-struggling pace up the hill and definitely did, staying right around 8 min/mile for the incline.  Feeling good I figured I'd really turn it on for the last mile...and clocked in at 6:14!  I really didn't think I was going that fast, or that I had that kind of time in me tonight..but I did and I feel great.  Overall pace finished at 6:57/mile, which was another nice surprise - anything under 7 for an overall pace is really encouraging.  Tomorrow morning looks good for a short, slower recovery run to head into the weekend!

Typical recovery run, although I went a bit faster than I wanted to, due to starting later in the morning than planned.  I know that a minute or two doesn't make a difference when it comes to when I get to work, but I still feel like I have to get out of the house by a certain time.  Did the 3 miles at a 7:27/mile pace, planning on a nice long run tomorrow, depending on the weather.

What a great run..so far this was my favorite outing of the year.  I pushed out 12 miles at a 7:10/mile pace to top 100 miles for the month, and finished strong averaging 6:56/mile for the final four.  I was worried the whole time that my Garmin was going to run out of battery power, as the "low battery" warning came on only half an hour into the run..I've never looked at my watch so much over the course of a run.  But it survived, and probably pushed me to run harder since I really wanted it to last the duration.  Feeling very strong, I think I'm right where I should be with 7 months still ahead of me until the big BQ shot.