Healthy Kidney 10k

Today I ran another race. It was my second race of the year, leaving only seven to do in order to qualify for the marathon for next year. I was a little disappointed with my time today. I ran the 10k (which is 6.2 miles) in 50:04 which is an 8:04 min/mile pace. I had hoped to break the 8 minute mark, but alas, I did not.

I might have been able to break it had (a) the first mile not been so slow due to the fact that this race was PACKED and (b) that I hadn't stopped timing myself after the third mile. After I completed the the third mile, I accidentally hit "stop" on my watch instead of "lap" which I didn't realize until I was mostly through the fourth mile. This meant that I had no gauge, whatsoever, about what kind of pace I was running. I ran the first mile in about 8:15 (see comment "a" above), but I ran miles two and three in under 8 minutes each. I only wish I had paid more attention to the second half of the race!

In addition to the fact that I didn't run as well as I had hoped today, I've also been feeling a little spunk lately. For one, I have been eating really badly lately. I really need to eat more conscientiously in the next few weeks b/c I think it's having an effect on my running. Sara asked me what the point of keeping a food journal was if I wasn't going to change how I eat . . . I didn't really have an answer for that.

Also, I haven't been running enough lately. I really need to step it up and challenge myself in the next two weeks. I need to be at 20 miles/week by June 1st and I'm at 17 now, so that's not a problem, but now I need to focus on really making those miles count for something. I think that I might take a running class with NYRR in order to work on my speed, form, and efficiency for the marathon. The class is once a week for 10 weeks and I think it will really push me hard! Then, when I run another 10k I won't be so pissed at myself for running too conservatively and then beating myself up about.

I'm going to go out for 4-5 miles tomorrow to make this another 17 mile week or so. I also need to start running 5 days/week instead of the four that I'm managing now. That will also make a difference in my training.

But all in all, things are going well and I'm enjoying all of the running that I've been doing. Hopefully I can keep working towards the big day!!

PS - That is a picture of a kidney b/c today's race was the Healthy Kidney 10k. Also, I haven't had many pictures in my posts lately.