Setting the Pace

I think today's run was the most important one in all of my training for the Chattahoochee Challenge 10K. The goal was 16 x 400's--essentially, four miles of speedwork--between 8:45-8:50 pace. A pretty narrow goal (2:11-2:12 per split), so I was actually glad my iPod decided to flake out during the first set, because it really forced me to pay attention to my body and get comfortable with the pace--which, as my genius coach had worked out--is exactly the pace for a 54:30 minute 10K. It felt easy and comfortable, and I held back. I'm really feeling confident about this race and looking forward to testing myself. It's hard to believe that two years ago, my 10K time was 1:17:43. I've already bested that by 15 minutes, and now, I'm trying to shave another eight minutes off my PR (set on just three weeks of training).

This training process has been easy and very, very rewarding. I don't feel tired or burned out. I'm excited about every run. I learn something at every run. And I'm anxious to prove myself---knowing that this is just the beginning of my running career!