Must…Go…Slow

Today was one of those days when all the parts of the body weren’t exactly in sync.  Legs decided they wanted to go fast, but brain kept telling legs to slow down.  Heart and lungs just kind of relaxed, because they figured brain had everything under control.  It often happens that brain appears in control, but somewhere halfway through the run, legs have been slowly working on brain.

“Well, we’ve gone this far so fast,” Brain reasons, “let’s see how fast we can do this run.”  At this point, legs have won.  Brain has been converted.  Heart and lungs have no other choice than to go along with this foolish scheme.  There will be no easy run today.

I started off with good intentions, but somehow the brain seems to leak the information to the legs that today’s run is only 5 miles, so you don’t need to take it easy…and off I go.  I was honestly trying to run easy – just under 9 minutes per mile, but I find myself flirting with 8, then sub 8, then 7:15, then sub 7.  I ran today’s 5 miles only 3 seconds slower than yesterday’s five miles and I know I spent at least 2 minutes standing idle on street corners waiting for traffic.

So if nothing else, today was a good confidence builder.  I ran at my planned race pace for extended amounts of time without sucking wind.  Granted, 5 miles is far different from 13.1 but I’m, fairly confident.  Now, I need to slow down so I’m not sore on race day.  4 miles tomorrow, then a day off.