Great Training Run 8-22-07

New PR for 1 mile....(drum roll) 13:13!!! Yahoooooo!!!!

I haven't run a mile that fast since I was (inexplicably) on the track team in high school...and that was 17 years ago!

Disclaimer: I would never mess around with painkillers, performance-enhancing drugs, hallucinogenic mushrooms, or any of that stuff. But I took a dose of Pepto before my run (with my last-thing-out-the-door 8 oz. glass of water) and had NO stomach issues whatsoever despite the weather and pushing myself pretty hard. I may be on to something here...

I have this weird pain in my butt, though. It didn't bother me during the run (because I was concentrating, probably) but it was still there when I was done. Obviously I've been using muscles I didn't know I had.

I waited until 9 pm to go out tonight because the heat index during the day was 110...I mean, even though one of the reasons I run is to lose weight, let's not overdo it. I can only carry so much water. =)

Decided to try to run 14 minutes at a time, but without looking at my watch every few minutes...so I decided to shoot for the 1-mile mark on my usual loop and just take a look and see where I was if/when I got there. Keep in mind that this would be the longest distance I'd run at a time without stopping for a walk break. I got to the mile mark, looked down...and saw 13:26!!

Took a longer walk break than usual, partly to celebrate and look up at the stars. Started running again at my favorite bush at 17:00, tried to keep my pace consistent, even on the slight upslope, and long story short, got back to the bush at 30:13!

13 seconds faster on the second mile than the first...NEGATIVE SPLITS!! Plus, I actually managed to put two 1-mile continuous runs together.

I read something in one of John Bingham's books today which said something to the effect that sometimes during a bad run you have to tell yourself "I'm having this bad run so that I can have a great run some other time". It certainly worked for me today.

Saturday 5K, here I come!!