The Perfect 10!

Since we had a family wedding to attend this weekend (so much fun and too much to share, that might need to be another post!) I had to get my long run in a day early. So, I took the whole day off a work, yes partially to run, partially to get my nails done with the bride, and set out to run 10 miles. After last week’s flub, I wasn’t that excited. I lost my excitement for this run. I did have an awesome new ipod list to look forward to so that did help a little. I put my new compression socks on, my water belt on, and I hit the pavement in the nice cool 40 something degree weather. Since I was alone, I figured I would play with my pace a little. See if I could run faster than I have been on my training runs. This was a good experiment that proved what I probably could have guessed…I need to take it S L O W at the beginning. My first mile was 9:35 and it was all downhill (or uphill actually) from there. I over-did it on that first mile and then I was trying to play catch up for 9 more miles. The last two miles hurt. I aim for negative splits each long run, which is when you gain speed throughout the run. I had the opposite happen this time though I did eek out a sub 10 minute mile for mile 10, barely.

My overall pace wasn’t horrible, it was 10:11 for 10 miles but there was a lot of fluctuation this week when I would glance down at my garmin watch and I saw some upper 10’s and not a lot of 9’s. Ahh, lesson learned. I need to start slow at the race and build up to the last 3 miles when I can push myself a bit. Even though it wasn’t my finest performance it was still a perfect 10 because I ran 10 miles the same day that the scale said 10 lbs lost. So, it was a TEN kind of day!! I am officially at my pre-Sean and Carter weight, wearing my old skinny clothes, people are noticing a difference and I am happy. I still have a few more to go before I’ll be at my goal weight, but I am so close!  Yay for a perfect 10 kind of day! It was followed by an amazing weekend of lots of fun, laughing, time with family, and dancing! I even made it all night on the dance floor without being too tired from my 10 miles. A success!