So remember yesterday's blog, where I escaped to my bathroom for 5 minutes of peace and quiet? I often wish for 5 or 10 or 15 minutes of "alone" time (multiple times per day). This morning, I arrived at Kennedy Park at 6:25 for a 6:30 start for today's seven miles. And no one else showed up. Seriously. Seven miles, alone.
Team FDC meets for its long runs on Saturdays. This year, Blas decided to train with me for the half marathon. But with Christian and Connor at home, we can't go to the training runs together. Thinking there were likely more husband/wife runners in our situation, I volunteered to "lead" a group on Sunday mornings ("lead" = "show up"). That way, Blas could get the support of the large group on Saturdays and I would have no excuses for Sundays. This is week 7 and aside from Labor Day weekend and triathlon weekend, there has ALWAYS been at least one other person on Sunday. But not today. Apparently I wished a little too hard for that "alone" time.
So how'd I do?
I ran the 7 miles in 91 minutes and 30 seconds. I'm still working on getting over a cold that struck the day of the triathlon... and I felt pretty crappy for the first four miles. However, I did some quick division and multiplication and if I maintained my overall pace for the entire 13.1, I would finish in 2:51:14. Do you remember my goal? 2:51:24. NO KIDDING... I would have beat it by 10 seconds. So obviously, I have some work to do. The good news, though, is that I ran with a negative split. For the newbies out there, this means I ran the second half faster than the first half. This is a good thing. I did the first 3.5 miles in 48 minutes (13:42 per mile pace) and the second 3.5 miles in 43:30 (12:25 per mile pace). The final mile was actually 11:30. The second 3.5 miles even included stopping to say hi to my friend's mom while she was out walking her dog on Edgewater. (Incidentally, I'm not sure which of us was more horrified by the chance encounter - her, having just rolled out of bed with no make-up or me, with no make-up AND dripping sweat!)
So what did I learn?
Doing the long runs alone pretty much sucks. I'm sure that with a buddy, I could've gone at least a little faster. I wasn't completely alone, though. I'm the obnoxious runner with the iPhone strapped to my arm with no headphones so that everyone around me can enjoy my musical selections. (I got nervous when I hit the Coral Gables border, convinced that The City Beautiful wouldn't appreciate my nod toward safety, and would instead issue me a citation for noise pollution!) Beyonce, Prince, Coldplay, The Black Eyed Peas, Bon Jovi, Marvin Gaye, U2, Eminem, Pitbull, Pink, Diddy Dirty Money (or whatever he's going by these days) and many others joined me on this run. (Note to self: The Lazy Song only works in my running mix when it comes at the END of the run, not during Mile 2.) The TEAM aspect of training is essential and today my team consisted of me, top selling artists, and the little voice in my head that kept telling me to keep going.
The little voice and I also laughed about how "old" Kellee would have rationalized that a 90+ minute run would count for 3 days of 30 minutes of exercise. The "new" Kellee will be at it again tomorrow. Another day, another workout.
Happy training,
Kellee
P.S. To the biker or runner or Great Dane who took a horse sized dump in the middle of Edgewater,
