I have a lot of plans for 2012. I’m going to run my 3rd marathon, my 4th, 5th and 6th half marathons and a mud run. That’s all by the end of May. I haven’t decided what to do with the rest of my year yet. I have high hopes for my 3rd marathon and I’m doing the best I can to stick to my training schedule so that I can achieve my goal.
The long runs in my training schedule suggest running at a comfortable slow pace of 9:58 to 10:04/mile. Since my long runs are frequently my only solo runs of the week I generally pick up the pace a little more than that. On Christmas Eve, I ran 10 miles in an hour and a half with an average pace of 9:04. I didn’t need to run that “fast,” but I did because I felt comfortable at that pace and I wanted to see if I could maintain that pace over a longer distance.
I did my long run for last week today because I wasn’t able to squeeze it in over the weekend. I needed to run 13 miles, but decided I might as well do 13.1 so my first run of 2012 would be a half marathon. I ran 13.1 miles in 2:06 – an average pace of 9:35. A big goal I have this year is to run a sub-2 hour half marathon and this run gave me the confidence that I can do it. I was anticipating a tough run because I’m coming down with a cold, but I somehow managed to maintain a nice pace and I felt like I was in a good rhythm while I was running.
I feel so great knowing I kicked off 2012 with a fantastic run. I’ve been exhausted from the holidays. Exhausted the point of feeling hungover even when I haven’t had a drink! I call it the Holiday Hangover. My run today kicked that Holiday Hangover to the curb. Here’s to being healthy and fit in 2012!
Happy New Year!
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