Surprise Running Buddy + Inaugural 10k Race Goals

Signs Kyle and I have spent entirely too much time watching LOST:

This morning, Kyle and I were waiting at a stop light.  A truck drives by with a chick with long crazy dark hair. 

KK:  Huh.... there's Rousseau.....
Me:  Well, clearly she gets off the island.  SPOILER ALERT!!!!

::maniacal laughter ensues::

Tuesday I had a shocking surprise when I texted KK to see if he wanted to accompany on my run.  Instead of the usual excuse of nap/softball/washing his hair, he asked how far.  Uh.... as far as you want to go bud.  I headed out for 5 miles on my own, and then met him back at my apartment to go out for another 2 miles.  Keeping in mind that the kid hasn't run since we started dating, he did amazing.  Seriously.  I told him we could take walk breaks/stretch breaks, whatever as long as we did the total 2 miles.  Considering he had played softball for the first time since last fall and was already all kinds of sore, it was lots o' fun.  :)

The second half of mile one was much faster than the first half.  And after our 1/4 of a mile walk break at the halfway point, we hauled some booty to finish up the two miles.  AND his heart didn't beat out of his chest like he was convinced it was going to.  AND he must not have hated it too terribly much, because he had mentioned going out for another couple of miles after work tonight.  Yay KK.... brb currently signing us up for a race together......

This morning I had a 7 mile scheduled.  I was not feeling 7 miles from the moment I crawled out of bed, so I down-sized to 5 miles.  Well those miles felt like the first miles I've ever run in my life, so somehow they got downgraded to 4 miles.  Four heavy, slow, slogging miles.  Ugh.  Luckily those craptastic runs usually mean that a stellar run is just around the corner.

Oh hey speaking of runs just around the corner.....  This weekend I'm running my first ever 10k.  Yes, I also have no idea how I've run so many races without letting a 10k slip in there.  I'm guessing that upon finishing I will again be frightened of the distance and keep it at bay, after the dry-heaving stops, that is.

Since I've never run a 10k, it's an auto PR.  YAYZIES!  However, there are so many tools and calculators out there to tell you what your time could/would/should be, so I'll let you in on some goals.

Based on the McMillan calculator for both my half and 5k time, I should be right around 50 minutes.  It's on my 101 in 1001 list to break 50 minutes, so I might as well shoot for that.  Also, I'd really love to run a sub 8 minute pace for the whole shebang, which would ensure my sub 50, and then a little extra.  And then because I've heard that an accurate 10k estimate is your (5k time x 2) + 1 min, I would maybe possibly like to break 49 minutes.  Barfaroni.  (see above).

Granted, I had all these time goals in mind before my half marathon that tore my poor IT bands apart.  Hopefully the ol' bod will be 100% on Saturday so I can give it my all, because it's pretty clear that it could be awhile before I get tricked in to running another one of these puppies...