I should have raced this weekend!!

I had the best run yesterday! So good, that when I finished, all I could think was "I should have raced today."

Because I'm a good fiance, I dd'ed on Friday night and slept in on Saturday instead of waking up early to meet my friends for a long run. This threw my entire Saturday off (sleeping in) and I didn't run the entire day.

Fast forward to Sunday and I slept in (just a little) again! I got up, made coffee, visited with the boy before he left for fishing for the day and finally started running at 9AM.

I realize that 9AM is early to a lot of you, but in Tampa, it's already 85 degree and sunny at 9AM!

So, I headed out solo and without music in the warm, warm weather. It was a beautiful day and all I could think about was finishing so that I could hit up the pool and work on my tan ;)

For the first ten steps, I thought "UGH! My legs are heavy and tight." I thought ... just make it six miles. You have to go at least six. But, then I loosened up and hit mile one in 8:20. I kept running, focusing on my stride. I wasn't thinking about running faster, just about running with a longer stride. It feels good to stretch out. But, then something happened. I kept getting faster. Of course, on my way back (I ran an out and back of 8 miles), I kept yelling at myself saying things like "You have to work hard to run well in NYC." "There's a reason you're not in Boston this weekend. You need to train harder!" "Be tough, Jaime. RUN!!!" I'm getting good at playing mind games with myself!

Check out these splits! Because they're all negative, I can honestly say that I didn't realize increase the effort too much until the last .3 miles!

8:20
8:13
7:52
7:41
7:28
7:23
7:13
6:56

Total - 8 miles in 1:01:11 (7:39 average pace).

Truth be told, 7:20 is my half marathon pace and I can see why! When stretched and not rushed into that pace, I feel good holding it! :) 7:38 is my secret marathon goal pace for NYC! We'll see!!

Good luck to everyone in Boston today!!