At class tonight I was to run 10 miles (the advanced distance) with 6 of those miles at Marathon Goal Pace or MGP. Since I’m shooting for a 4 hour marathon, I needed to run a 9:10 minutes per mile pace for my MGP. There was a two mile warm up and then we’d reach a cone where the MGP would start. There would be cones at mile 0, mile 0.5 and then a two mile loop. It was an out and back course with two 2-mile loops. Naturally I took off ahead of everyone and got lost during the warm up, however, I got back on course only losing about 3 minutes along the way. The first timed half mile was 4:24 (should have been 4:35). I was going too fast (the story of my life) so I tried to slow down. The second half mile was 4:23 (also should have been 4:35, sheesh, slow down will ya). The first two mile loop was 17:26 (should have been 18:20). The second two mile loop was 17:38. The first returning half mile was 4:39 (now that’s better). The second returning half mile was 4:33 (A-OK). And over all it took me 1:35:18 for the entire 10 mile journey including the lost portion. I rarely run that long in an evening. When it was all over I was tired, and sweaty (it was 70+ degrees out) but not exhausted. Coach and I talked and then I headed home for a light dinner.
