Small Steps, Big Strides

The alarm came early this morning and for the second morning in a row my body did not want to get up. This morning, after getting a free pass yesterday, I was coaxed out of bed by the strong pull of obligation (which in this case was a good thing.) The Fall-like weather seems to have stuck around this time and it was a much needed boost. My normal route takes me down a small decline that seems to ease my legs into a nice pace quickly without so much work. But today that pace kept getting faster and faster and I wasn't about to let it go.

Onward, the miles ticked away and right before mile 3 I looked down to see something that was foreign, faster split times. Could it be my Forerunner was on the fritz and wasn't reading right? A quick computation in my head of miles and time only bolstered the numbers I saw....3 miles at 27:10. Before you all start thinking, "What? He thinks that's fast?" realize that for the past two years of running and training for half mary's and full marathons I was a perrenial 10 minute miler....nothing faster, nothing slower. I would always try to kick up the pace only to be tugged back to the 10 minute mile pace by other forces. To see this kind of change was very heartening.

It reminded me about some of the great things about running and cycling...there are lots of measurables pace, time, heartrate, distance, comfort level, weight loss, enjoyment. Not that you get to enjoy all of them ALL of the time, but when you just see one of them you are somehow validating your effort. After a quick stop for water, I was back running. Proud of realizing I had just run my fastest 3 mile time, the miles continued ticking away. At the 5 mile mark I was again energized by what I was seeing. I hit my 6 mile target and stopped my time and distance 55:05. Again, for some of your speedsters, this may seem somewhat trivial, but for me, today was the kind of day that makes you realize that progress is all about perseverance.

Workout stats:
Downtown streets/Town Lake
6 miles
55.05
9.10 pace