Three weeks ago, I ran 5 miles in 45 minutes.*
(Let me just do the math for you: that means I was running 9-minute miles. I wasn't trying for that pace -- I just set out for a 5-mile run and told myself I was going to do it as fast as I could. I didn't check my time until I was done. Imagine how happy I was when I saw 45:04 on the timer!)
Now most runners might scoff at 9-minute miles. They might laugh at the idea that it was an achievement at all. In fact, SAJ** was telling me about an article she read that said people shouldn't even call themselves runners, as opposed to joggers, until they can run a marathon in less than four hours. I hope I got that right -- but even if I didn't, the threshold for the "runner" designation involved some kind of ridiculously unattainable time that I'm never going to get anywhere near.
But you know what? I don't care. I am hugely proud of my 5 miles in 45 minutes. Because, just a few short months ago, I was squarely in the land of 12-minute miles. I didn't think it was possible to budge my pace, and I didn't really want to try. It seemed too hard, so instead I worked on making peace with what came naturally to me.
That's the beauty of this: my pace seems to have quickened by itself. It's true that I've been doing intervals, tempo runs and pace runs. But my pace picked up even before I started those. Something happened in December, when I wasn't officially training for anything anymore and just trying to keep up my general fitness. I didn't run a lot -- once or twice a week -- but I noticed almost immediately that I was faster than usual. Is that because my distances were so much shorter -- that I was running 5 or 6 miles at a go instead of 16 or 18? Is it because I was only running a couple times a week (and doing other forms of cardio on the other days) instead of three or four? I don't know. It almost feels like alchemy to me.
It's similar to how I felt when my oldest daughter was in kindergarten. Suddenly, toward the end of the year, she knew how to read. It was like a light had been turned on for her and she could do it. There was no middle ground, no "she can almost do it, she's getting close." One day she couldn't do it and one day she could. I didn't understand the machinations that led to her new ability, so I just gloried in it.
Same with my happy new ability to be faster. I don't understand what led to it but I am delighted. And I want more. Now that I've had a taste of success and gotten some tools that I know how to use -- tempo runs and intervals -- I think I can be more proactive in my efforts.
I was very curious to see how much I could improve my half marathon time -- but, as we know, I couldn't pull one off this week thanks to my stinky cold. I'm hoping to be able to do one in the next few weeks and will hope to land somewhere in the realm of 2:10 ... 2:15 at the most. We'll see.
And next up, I'm going to work on my time over shorter distances. I'm doing a 10k on April 11 and a 12k the first weekend of May. As soon as I shake off this cold, it's back to tempo runs and intervals so I can see how quickly I can get through those runs. I'm excited to see if there's a difference in my pace between the first event and the second. With those behind me, I'll go back to half-marathon training ... and then, before you know it, I'll start training for the Victoria marathon in October. (Not sure I'll actually do it, but I'll go ahead and train.) Could I finish a marathon in less than 5 hours? I have to confess, I would love to find out.
*Here's my caveat on that achievement: I turned the timer off on my watch whenever I had to stop to wait for a light at an intersection. Does that still count? I hope so. But I also think I may have had an unfair advantage, being able to catch my breath while waiting for those green lights. I'm excited to try a run in a place where I won't have to stop -- around Green Lake or along the Burke Gilman Trail -- to see if I can do it again.
**SAJ, by the by, ran a half marathon in 1:56 on Sunday. I'll do the math again: that's less than 9-minute miles; probably about 8:52? An amazing achievement on a hilly course -- and faster than her time on the flat Victoria half course last fall. What a stud she is! Here I am, bragging about running five 9-minute miles -- then she goes and does 13 at a per-mile pace that's about 10 seconds faster. I've been hoping that I could run a half in 2:10, and she goes and shaves 15 minutes off my ultimate dream come true. Oh SAJ, such an inspiration. I'm never going to catch up with her. But at least she keeps me trying.
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