Maintenance Week Continued

Another 10k tonight. A little bit slower, but still above training schedule pace. It felt more comfortable tonight than two days ago, except for the stitch I got in my side about half way through. Slow, deep breaths helped. My thighs hurt during the first 10 minutes or so, so I had to go a little slower at the beginning to work them out.

You know what's scary? During the marathon, after I've run what I ran tonight, I will have to run 20 MORE miles! That is scary. The marathon is 4-10ks and another mile and a half. It seems more doable than one 10k, and two 10-milers. So, I'd just have to do what I did tonight THREE more times and add another 1.5 on the end. I'll work on it! :)

I had to concentrate tonight on this run, and not the next few weeks of runs. I had to remind myself mutliple times, since I was starting to worry. "How am I going to do a 7-mile tempo run on Monday morning? Should I do it Sunday night? Will I be able to do it without walking?" "What about the 14 mile run? Wednesday or Thursday? How hot is it going to be?" "How am I going to do that 18 mile run in 2 weeks when I'm scheduled to work every day, all day during the week, and I have a 10 mile race on Saturday? I can't skip my 18 mile run!! It's an important one! Will I have to get up at 2:30am to have enough time??"

I will figure that all out. For tonight, I ran 10k, and felt good.

Distance: 6.23
Time: 1:09:33
Pace: 11:09

Side note: They finally posted the race results from the 10k I ran last week. Last year, I was second last of my age group - 16th out of 17. I noticed when I was waiting for the race to start this year, that it seemed like there were about half the amount of people there this year. I wonder why. It is a hard race, but you'd think people would want a challenging course. Anyway, this year I came in last in my age group, even though I beat my time by two and a half minutes. There were only 7 women in my age group. I came in 4th last in the race, which seems weird. I am always in the slower end, but I still think my time wasn't bad. I realize this race is more for elite runners (and really felt that a lot last year, moreso than this year), but it is still a race, and should bring local runners of all skill levels. Kind of disappointing. I wonder if it's worth it to run next year if it's only for the elite?