So it's been a little about 6 weeks since my injury and I'm slowly getting back into training with the ELF pulling hard on the reigns to slow me down. She actually yelled at me via email last week! I was supposed to do a half marathon last Sunday but that was scrapped, so instead I jumped into the 5k event that was also offered up. The fun part was that my beautiful wife was also running that day- in her very first 5k ever! (Side note- I am SO proud of my wife. Never a runner, she decided she'd had enough of watching me do my thing and started running! She's lost 20lbs and looks great- more importantly she's becoming quite a runner!) So my plan was to run the first mile with her at least and just play it by ear, not intending to race, just to run.
Well, best laid plans....I did indeed run the first mile with the Mrs. at a nice 9:40 pace- very doable for me and a good pace for her to set for the total distance. After the first mile I asked her if she wanted me to stay with her or go on ahead. She basically told me to beat it. Ok hon, I'll see you at the finish- thinking I'd probably finish just a couple of minutes ahead if I ran 8-8:30 pace. So I picked it up a bit and I felt really good! I wasn't paying a ton of attention to my Garmin at first but by the time I did, I was settled into a really comfortable pace that felt good- and I looked at my watch to see that I was running a 7:15 pace! WHOA! That wasn't the plan. But, I felt good! Leg didn't hurt, lungs felt good, it's only two miles, let's go. SO I kept it going, and finished the race around 24 minutes, doing the last mile at 7:05. I was really happy with this- I didn't hurt and I hadn't lost a lot of fitness. I figured coach would be really happy because I did a long warmup and then picked it up, or really ticked because I ran too fast. Guess which it was?
I never knew that a 34 year old Elf could sound like my mother via email, but she managed it. After a stern email lecture, I told her that the next time she wants to yell at me to use my middle name as that would really get the full effect. Just like being 9 again! Oh well, she's the reason I've made it this far in my training so I guess I'd better listen. It's not like I've got a race coming up or anything.
I will say that this down time has been good for me. It gave me a break from training and let me get my head right again. Now I'm really chomping at the bit to get back into it but I need a new goal. I guess it's time to start race planning for 2011. In the meantime, I'm just trying to keep my head down!
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