A Faith-Restoring 10K

Runner's Lingo: "P.R.": Personal Record...when a runner runs a distance faster than they ever have before. 

 

P.R.!!! My best ever was 51:11

Today I had a faith-restoring run. Not a faith in God, there isn't much that can shake that for me. I am talking about faith in MYSELF, and my abilities. After my flop in the Portland Half Marathon I had been questioning my ability to run and run well. I wondered if maybe I was doing something wrong, and that it might never start to seem "easy". I ran 4 miles on Thursday, then ran an awesome 10K today. 

It was just one of those beautiful workouts where everything just felt good. I started out carefully monitoring to make sure I did not go out too fast, and fought my instinct to fly when it all felt easy, and held myself back. That is hard! My body felt really good and the weather was mild and overcast. The waves were crashing but I mostly listened to my iPod.

Around mile 2.5 I had the long hill up to the end of Sunset Cove that leads to the Tillamook Head Trail. The elevation line on the graph below sure does not do the hill justice...it is definitely significant when compared to the completely flat rest of the course (which oddly the line also does not show). You can see right before mile 3 where my pace was slowest though. I still felt like I took the hill like a champ and felt great. I didn't even stop at the top, I just touched the gate while turning and headed down.

I saw quite a few runners today. There are tourists in town for Memorial Day Weekend so I assume they are runners from Portland. I welcome them! One guy in particular passed me around mile 4 and I got this idea in my head to let him pace me. I was feeling really good and he wasn't going much faster than me, and with only 2.2 miles left, I could stand to pick up the pace a bit. So I did! I played this game where he was my own personal "rabbit" and followed him almost all the way back home. He had no clue of course because he was wearing earbuds.

It worked...my last 3 miles were clocked at 8:14, 7:55 and a quick 7:42. It felt awesome!!

More than anything, I just love a day when things go well and I am able to do my very best. It helps restore faith in my ability, and revives the love I have for running.