I decided to take this week a bit easy with running, as I had my record Army Physical Fitness Test for my course this Thursday. That said, I did not run between last weekend's long run of 13.1 miles and Thursday morning. That morning was extremely cold, and we did the first two events of the test (a 2 minute set of push-ups and a two minute set of sit-ups) indoors. After a paltry 47 push-ups (rhythm thrown off by the grader's requests to "lock out " my arms when I clearly was) I rocked out 79 sit-ups. I nearly got the maximum score in that event. After the first two events, we get a ten minute break prior to the run. By that time, the sun was starting to come up, but it was still only about 20-25 degrees outside. I opted to go ahead and go with shorts, long-sleeves, and just a beanie and gloves in order to keep the weight down. In retrospect, I am glad I did, despite temperature. I've always felt that I run much better in colder weather, being quite warm-natured, and I actually was sweating quite a bit at the end. There are about 120 people in my class, so the start line was a bit crowded, as we did the run on one of the streets of Fort Lee. I positioned myself toward the back of the pack, because I really wasn't expecting to kill the run. They started off, and I settled into a nice stride, thinking I was pulling about an 8-minute pace. My breath control was good that morning, and I began to pass several of my classmates. About half a mile in, I'm finding myself easing closer and closer to the front of the pack, and my stride is lengthening out, and the lungs feel good. As I get to the one mile turnaround point, I hear the time keeper, "7 minutes!" I hit the turnaround at 7:04, so I had no doubt at this point I'd finish in probably 15 minutes or slightly less. BUT, the last mile is slightly downhill. I decided to try to pick up the pace, as my breath control is still good. I pass a few more classmates that were pushing toward the front. I hit 1.5 miles in just about 10 minutes, feeling good. The last .25, I get passed as some who reserved their energy throughout decide to sprint out the last portion. I'm OK with that, I like to maintain a steady pace. Once I'm within about 100m of the finish, I hear the timekeeper "13:45!" I stretch just a bit, and cross at 13:58, over a full minute faster than my goal. I haven't run the two-mile portion of the PT test that fast since I was in college, so I'm very pleased with that pace. I may just have to sign up for a holiday 5K just to see if I can PR that distance.
After taking Friday off to stretch out from Thursday's "speedwork," I ventured out for my weekly long run on Saturday morning. Another cold Virginia morning, it was about 35 degrees when I laced up to go hit the road. Given that I didn't log very many miles this week, I kept my expectations kind of low for how long I was going to go. That all stopped when I finally got going, because I realized quickly my legs and lungs felt GREAT. I hovered around an 8:00 to 8:15 mile pace through the first 5K, and said, "you know what, let's see if we can add a couple of miles to the plan today." Last week I logged 13, I put 15 miles in my crosshairs for this week. By the time I crossed the 10K point, I ate a gel, drank some water, and was feeling strong. I think I laced my shoes a bit tight that morning, because the top of my right foot was hurting, but just enough to be a nuisance. I hit 7 miles in less than an hour, a personal best. I hit 10 miles in about 1:23, another personal best. At 11 miles, I threw my last gel packet down, and stretched out the stride. After crossing the half-marathon point at just 30 seconds slower than my personal best (which came at the Richmond McDonald's Half-Marathon), I knew this 15 miler was in the bag. All I had was one more killer hill to traverse. I plugged in a favorite power song on the iPhone, and began my ascent. The legs were burning, the lungs were screaming, but I kept going. After that hill was behind me, I finished off my water, caught my breath, and eased in for the last mile. I finished in 2:04:49, a full five minutes faster than I told myself I'd be happy with. This was the farthest I'd ever ran, and just another step toward my goal of 26.2 miles in March. I'm a little sore today, but I feel great, I feel strong, and I feel more determined and able to meet my goal of a sub-4:00 marathon by the time my training is done.
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