11 miles with my running group this morning.
Mile 1- 8:50
Mile 2- 8:27
Mile 3- 8:16
Mile 4- 8:14
Mile 5- 8:01
Mile 6- 8:02
Mile 7- 7:56
Mile 8- 7:40
Mile 9- 7:36
Mile 10- 7:06
Mile 11- 7:11
Alot of people weren't there this morning because they are running Dallas White Rock Lake Marathon tomorrow. I got asked to pace the 9 minute group at the last minute. There are 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 minute pace groups. There isn't an official "pace" group for the people I run with... we range between 7:30 and 8:30 usually. I use Saturdays as a combo tempo/long run... I look forward to it all week. I was kinda disappointed to do the 9 minute group. I couldn't say no because I was asked in front of the pre-run meeting with everyone there... I could just imagine everyone's reaction if I had said, "No, I want to run an 8 minute pace, thanks"
But it turned out ok... It ended up being Brenda and I and then two other guys who I've never met named Brooks and Miquel. They told me that they actually ran right behind me at the 15K when I was a 7:39 pace. So I asked them if they wanted to do a progressive run today and they said they'd be ok with that.
A couple miles into it, James started running with us. He and his father own the running store. I don't know his PR but I looked him up on Athlinks.com (which only has race results since 2000) and his best marathon on that was 2:40. His best 5k was 16:09. He's in his mid-forties and been running his whole life so I bet he had some faster times prior to 2000. It was kinda interesting that he ran with us the rest of the way. I don't think any of his normal sub-7 minute runners were there.
Everyone ran together the first 9 miles. The last couple miles, I sped way up... James kept up with me and everyone else fell behind. It was super challenging for me... a mere jog for him. It was polite of him to not leave me. Only real problem I had was that with 1/2 mile to go, my ipod started playing slow songs... I started feeling like I couldn't hold the pace and I realized that the beat was not fast enough. I had to fiddle with that stupid thing for 1 minute before I found Lady GaGa. After that I finished strong but with nothing left. James looked like he just finished running 1 mile. Miquel caught up to us at the end in a sprint. I'm impressed with Miquel... he had a big kick!
I've been thinking that I am going to do this progressive run thing on Saturdays and keep driving my pace down. A few weeks ago, if I really pushed myself, I could get down to a 7:30 pace at the end. Today, I'm getting down to 7:06 and 7:11. I'm getting faster and faster! I think progressive runs really help. | 