12 mile long run before work? No problem.

I think my mind just likes a challenge. I've felt a little less than motivated on some recent training runs, but I think I just need to keep switching things up and challenging myself. Like doing a long run before work. Interesting. I posted on my fb page that I was planning on doing this craziness, and my running buddy that I have yet to run with responded with, "what time?" We've been trying to get a run in together for a couple of weeks, and somehow the planets aligned today. He is VERY speedy (7:30 pace for 14 miles a couple of weeks ago, speedy) but agreed to come with and keep me company. To be honest, it was probably the agreement to let him wear the Garmin for the first half of the run that got him interested and kept him hooked in. After a little thought, this was a really dumb idea. The guy could definitely out run me, what if he took off with my watch?!?! Luckily that didn't happen.

When I stepped outside at 7am it was cold. Mid-50s, strong wind gusts, sprinkles. Eff. That's no fun. But what if race morning is like this? Gotta be prepared. :) We took off and I felt nekkid with out my Garmin on. My left wrist felt so light and free. :p Of course the running buddy was super psyched by wearing it, and checked our pace at least every 5-6 strides. Kind of reminded me of someone else when she first got hers. ;) Unfortunately we had our first user error shortly before mile 1, when we stopped to stretch. When we restarted, I reminded him to start the man watch, to which he replied, ummm... I never stopped it. Since he was constantly checking our pace, we gather it was pretty close to a 9:15, so we'll go with that.

I told him my pacing plan for the 1/2 marathon (did I mention he's doing it too? he just signed up yesterday. WHOO!) and how I was trying to emulate the same paces for my long runs and we went with it. First third 9:15-ish. Middle third around 9. Last third BTTW (for the race)/quick enough to break 9 min pace (for the long run). And we went with it.

To be honest, it was way weird running with someone. I kind of like running by feel and not feeling pressured to go a pace other than my own. It definitely took some getting used to. Our splits were not as consistent as what they usually are when I run by myself, but I attribute that partially to not wearing my Garmin, and partially to running with him. It was great to have someone to randomly chat with and concentrate on something OTHER than running, and just zone out.

At the 6 mile turn around there was user error #2 where I demanded, uh I mean, politely asked for my Garmin back, and SOMEONE again forgot to stop the timer. Hah, garmin rookies, I tell ya. Good thing I'm good at estimating time. :p At the turn around I let him take off to run his legs a bit harder, but concentrated on keeping him in my sights and trying to pace right around or below 9 min miles. With a little over 3 miles left, we hooked up again and soldiered through the BTTW portion of the run. I felt very strong on these last three miles, and they gave me confidence in knowing I will still have a kick at the end of the half in 3 1/2 weeks. We high fived when we got to his apartment, and I sprinted the last 3 blocks to my place.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had run under 9 min miles for the run. After doing some additional calculations for User Errors #1 and #2, I came up with a time of 1:47:35 for a 8:58 pace. WHOO!
1. 9:15 (estimated. watch didn't stop to stretch.)
2. 9:26
3. 9:09
4. 9:00
5. 9:15
6. 9:11
7. 8:57 (reduced 10 sec to accommodate no watch stop)
8. 8:58
9. 8:59
10. 8:45
11. 8:32
12. 8:08

I had plenty of time to stretch, ice bath, eat, shower, and get ready before I had to head to work. I ate an amazing everything bagel with roasted red pepper hummus, a slice of pepperjack cheese, and a 1/4 of an avocado sliced on top. I also had some miso soup leftover from my sushi amazingness of a lunch from yesterday. I was giddily (is that a word? must be, spellcheck didn't highlight it. sweet.) excited to eat it. It was sooooo good. And I even treated myself to a Starbucks latte, since I wasn't sure how zonked I would be once I got to work. So far the only negative is that I have to sit at my desk for about 98% of the day, so my legs are a little tighter than normal. I'm trying to make it a point to go talk to co-workers instead of emailing just to get them to stretch out. Good to know that a Thursday long run could be a nice back up plan if necessary. :)

I did the worst yoga series every yesterday. Blah. It was a "cleansing" series, but it was just boooooooring. It was basically the stretches you do before and after most of the series but repeated a bazillion times and held forever. Probably my least favorite day of yoga, but oh well, I still soldiered through it and am still on my streak. Day 6 (yesterday) complete. Day 7 to be done tonight.