so yesterday i ran - and completed - my first 10k in i believe 7 years. probably stupid, more miles than the higdon plan says i should be doing at this point, and injury from overtraining is a growing concern (my ankle seems to hurt after most every run). but i saw it on the calendar, it was a flat course, i was up early anyway, so i did it. i started well, locked into a slow steady pace of around 10:30-10:45, stopping only at the water stands, even enough breath to talk to another guy who was in about my boat -- hadn't run for years, was just about a month back into it, just aiming to finish not for time etc -- and keeping an eye on and trying to stay together with others around me, hoping for pacing that way. (note to self, one of those watches will be a good birthday present to get myself. the ipod thing is too awkward.) i admit, after the halfway mark i did walk a couple of times besides water stops. very briefly though, and i thin in my head for conservation purposes more than necessity. i didn't want to be walking through the finish line. but as a result my times did slip a little in the last couple of miles. still, i was feeling fine throughout. finish time was something like 69 minutes.
when i was younger, running these more often, even 60:00 would have been a sign of illness or injury. of course, those were the days before chips so i don't have recorded times, but i was generally in the 50 minute range i think. no speed demon, but certainly there's a big difference between 8 and 11 minute miles.
speaking of chips, in a way i'm really sorry this one had them. i mean, thinking of what it was like for me just a month ago to run a mile, the fact that i started and finished in decent shape is a huge accomplishment. but i just had to go online and check my time, just had to check my standings etc. so the time, i can live with. shorter runs i'm aiming to do more like 10 min/mile these days, but realistic enough to know that for the long run i have to slow down, and this was a stretch so i was being convervative. nothing wrong with that. seeing that i finished ahead of more than 10% of the field was good. i just naturally don't want to be last. seeing that some of those were younger than i was nice. but seeing that i was dead last among my peers (40's men) wasn't happy, nor was the fact that so many 50's men were way ahead.
what i don't know is whether it is realistic to have both pace and endurance goals at this point. given the end goal, marathon survival, i think the endurance part is far more important. that i'm doing the number of weekly miles i'm doing, that i am on pace in terms of how long my long runs are vs the training plan, that's all good. but i'm still troubled by the thought that i'm just so slow. as i look at my logs vs the training plan i see i'm doing more miles, and maybe that's the thing/solution. i think i'll try a couple of weeks following his distances more closely. maybe if i do so, and see what i can do about those times, then as i get longer i'll be able to handle a slightly better pace. worth a shot, anyway. i mean, the pace i ran this 10k, if i could hold it thru a marathon, would still be a hair under 5 hrs which isn't terrible, i think, for a 50 yr old first timer. geez, listen to me, worrying about time, when i need to be worrying about survival. i need to step back, celebrate the achievement of running 6 miles yesterday when two months ago i was smoking a pack of unfiltereds a day and couldn't run 1, and leave it at that.
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