That's the line that every runner loves to hear while they are running down the street. It often comes from immature teens who think that seeing guys in shorts, shorter than most girl's skirts, is amusing. I think that it's funny that they comment on our attire, knowing that if they went outside without their shirts off, let alone ran, that their beer guts would quickly catch up with them.
I met up with my friend Carly at the gym for a kick boxing class. She told me that it would be a lot of fun, so I joined her for an hour of kick boxing wonderfulness. Turns out, the class WAS a lot of fun. After the class, I quickly changed into my running shorts, strapped on my HR monitor and my GARMIN, and headed out on a run. The game plan? Six miles easy.
As I ventured down Meridian, I intentionally kept my stride length a little shorter than normal, trying to make sure that I wasn't going out too fast. After a little while, I hear my watch beep. Lap 1: 6:59. I kind of chuckled inside. Really??? That felt WAY too easy. Whatever the case, I just kept running down 144th until I hit Nathan Chapman Park. As I was running through the parking lot, to enter the trail, I hear my watch beep yet again. Lap 2: 7:01. Those were the two easiest miles I have run all summer and I feel great. I went through the park, gliding along the smooth, pavement path. As I exit the trail and travel past the soccer fields, my watch beeps again. Lap 3: 7:10. Not bad, I slowed down a little bit, but I didn't mind. I still felt good and comfortable. Heading back up toward Meridian, there was a small gravel incline that I had to climb over. Nothing horrible, but just enough of an incline to where you have to alter your stride and focus on running up it. After cresting the top, I made a right onto Meridian and heard a beep shortly afterwards. Lap 4: 7:00. Right on pace.
Running down Meridian is always a fun experience because it's always something different. One night you may have cars honking and people screaming at you to "Go eat a cheeseburger." Other times you may not hear a single cry of attention, but they still watch you like a lion gazing upon an antelope. For the most part, Meridian is flat. If anything, there are very gradual inclines and declines, but nothing to where your pace will change dramatically. After I pass 144th, my watch beeps again. Lap 5: 6:47. During this mile, there was a gradual decline, but it still felt incredibly smooth. At that point I knew that I had a mile left to go before I made it back to my car.
The last half mile of the run I picked it up a tad. During the summer, I have always pushed the last kilometer of half mile of a run, to help give me some mental strength in the latter stages of a race (I currently don't have any haha). After a short while later, my watch beeps for it's last time. Lap 6: 6:36. Not too shabby. My max HR was only 166.
The run felt so nice and so smooth. Knowing that I can run 6:30 last mile on an easy training run is a confidence booster for me because my tempo pace is suppose to be 6:00min/mile. I feel like I will make some big leaps this year when it comes to my running. I have some goals in mind that are long overdue, such as breaking two minutes in the 800m and running a sub 4:40 1600m. I know how to train and I know how to train intelligently. That combination should bring me success.
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