Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Chasing My Rabbit
As I continue training for the New York City Marathon, I am trying to increase my pace. Obviously, the quicker your pace, the better your overall time will be. And, when you are talking about multiplying the time over 26.2 miles, even slight time increases make a big difference. I have been trying to train at a 9:30/mile pace. That is a solid pace, but I think I can move it closer to 9:00 as I get stronger again. Well, Monday I went to the LSU lakes after the show to get my 4-5 miles run in. It was raining and nasty and I had to give myself a great big pep talk just to go out there and do it. I mean, when the weather is overcast, dark and rainy, all you really want to do is get a burger and a beer, watch the game and fall asleep on the couch. Unfortunately, when training for an event like this, you do not have that luxury.
So, I get to the beach, stretch and just as I am about to take off, a girl darts on the path in front of me and is running a good pace. I figure I will keep pace with her until she fades and I will just finish on my own (besides, the scenery was nice if you know what I mean ;) ) When we got to the first mile, I looked at my watch and noticed 8:45 -- I was :45 faster than my pace. Surely she couldn't keep this pace! I was right...Kind of. Just as we passed the 1 mile mark, I noticed she began slowing. This was it. She was done. I began to gain on her and just as I got even, she noticed me, and sped up. I thought to myself "Oh! She wants to play!". I never broke stride, keeping the pace like a Kenyon marathoner.
When we approached mile 2, she began slowing again. It was deja vu. Just as I got on her heel, she noticed me again and sped up! I decided that I was going to pass her before we finished, whether she wanted me to or not. You see, there is sort of this pride thing that goes on with all runners where we never want to be passed. Anyway, as we moved to less than a mile to go, I saw her slow again and decided this was my time. I hopped on the grass and sped past her. It was really anti-climatic. She would up cutting off the last half-mile and went straight on to the finish while I kept going. Oh well! At least she knows I had her!
My finish time was 35:41 for a 4 mile run. That's under a 9:00 pace! Runs like that give you a lot of confidence as you move forward and definitely fuels the motivation fire to keep getting better.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers as I keep training toward my goal.
Peace!
So, I get to the beach, stretch and just as I am about to take off, a girl darts on the path in front of me and is running a good pace. I figure I will keep pace with her until she fades and I will just finish on my own (besides, the scenery was nice if you know what I mean ;) ) When we got to the first mile, I looked at my watch and noticed 8:45 -- I was :45 faster than my pace. Surely she couldn't keep this pace! I was right...Kind of. Just as we passed the 1 mile mark, I noticed she began slowing. This was it. She was done. I began to gain on her and just as I got even, she noticed me, and sped up. I thought to myself "Oh! She wants to play!". I never broke stride, keeping the pace like a Kenyon marathoner.
When we approached mile 2, she began slowing again. It was deja vu. Just as I got on her heel, she noticed me again and sped up! I decided that I was going to pass her before we finished, whether she wanted me to or not. You see, there is sort of this pride thing that goes on with all runners where we never want to be passed. Anyway, as we moved to less than a mile to go, I saw her slow again and decided this was my time. I hopped on the grass and sped past her. It was really anti-climatic. She would up cutting off the last half-mile and went straight on to the finish while I kept going. Oh well! At least she knows I had her!
My finish time was 35:41 for a 4 mile run. That's under a 9:00 pace! Runs like that give you a lot of confidence as you move forward and definitely fuels the motivation fire to keep getting better.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers as I keep training toward my goal.
Peace!
# posted by Matt Moscona @ 9:08 AM 
