Finally! A decent run

Time: 5:15am
Distance: 3.06 miles
Pace: 11:25

This morning's run was the first scheduled on my training plan for the MCM 10k. After my terrible performance on my last few runs, I was a little dubious as to whether I would be able to put in some quality miles this morning. I really want to stick to this training program in hopes that I will be able to run a sub-60 minute 10k come October. So I went to bed early last night (under the covers by 8:45pm!) and set the alarm for 4:45am. I've been finding it really hard to get out of bed in the mornings lately, so before I fell asleep last night I was really trying to get it in my mind that I would get up with the alarm and get ready. And, amazingly, I did! Hopefully the same thing will happen on Thursday morning when I have to get up to run.

Anyways, onto the run. I decided that, instead of aiming for a finishing time, I was going to take it one mile at a time and try to get my pace right. Which was not the easiest thing to do, seeing as I was making educated guesses as to where each mile marker was (boy, a Garmin 205 sure would come in handy right about now!), but it worked out ok. I hit mile 1 at about 11 minutes, which was just a little quicker than my pace should have been. During mile 2 I felt myself slow down a bit, and I did take a short walk break at about 1.5. I continued mile 2 at a slightly slower pace. I hit mile two at about a minute slower than I was aiming for. I knew then that I would have to pick up the pace if I was going to be on target, so mile 3 was quite a bit quicker. The route we run for our 3 mile distance has become so familiar to me, and I always love getting just past the 2 mile mark and onto the home stretch. The last mile is always so easy, and this morning was no exception. I really pushed for the last mile, which is what helped me to achieve my overall pace of 11:25. I'm fairly sure mile 2 was closer to 12 minutes, and mile 3 was closer to 10.

I'm really thinking about splurging and buying the Garmin 205, especially since I'm trying to train properly and without a buddy. $150 isn't that much, is it?

Thursday's scheduled run is a tempo run of 4 miles, with 2 miles at 9:48. Sheesh! That one will be tough.