Today’s run was supposed to start at 4:45 AM. At a park clear across town. So I had to get up at 3:00 in order to be ready and allow for drive time. Needless to say, it was a very early morning. And then we still got a late start once there. Oh well, I guess that’s just how it goes sometimes. I enjoy the group atmosphere so much that the time delay doesn’t bother me too much.

Our coaches announced that we had a 6 mile course today. Those training for the half-marathon would do the course once and those of us training for the full marathon would do it twice. Everybody kind of groaned at the thought of doing a loop twice, but after a moment I was kind of glad because I figured it would help us to pace ourselves more efficiently.

We started out in our little pack of 6 or 7 that usually run together, but my pal Melinda and I pushed ahead and finished the run before the others in our group. I know our coaches are constantly telling us to slow down, but pulling back and going too much slower just feels harder. I’d rather push ahead. We did our 12 miles in 2 hours and 4 minutes, so that was probably around a 10:30 pace or so.

I finished the run feeling good. Having a stronger runner like Melinda to keep me on track has helped my performance improve a lot and that is such a good feeling.

Now I’m going to kick back and relax for a while. We’re going to see The Blue Man Group tonight, so I want to be awake for that!