Something Old and Something New

Run: 4.9 miles in 0:36:51 min. @ 7:45 a.m.
Target Pace: 9:15 min/mi
Actual Pace: 7:31 min./mi

Weather: Cloudy, 31°F, 69% Humidity, Winds: WSW @ 6 mph; feels like 25°F.
Course: Up Monroe Avenue to Exchange Street, to Main Street, veer right on Monroe Avenue, left on Alexander, then a right down University Avenue to Goodman Street, eventually taking a left down Harvard Street.

Something old… my plan is to next run a marathon, something I have not completed successfully since June of 2006. Though I have recently run further, I have never really run a marathon after following a training plan. This time I will endeavor to follow a plan which, if the chips fall the right way, should lead me to a smarter, faster twenty-six-point-two.

Something new… attempting to establish a target training pace based on a possible marathon finishing of 3:27:55, about 20 minutes better than my existing PR at the distance. The ability to do this, without the bells-and-whistles provided by an on-wrist gps, is challenging, especially if one is inclined to attempt to go fast instead of paced. Today, for example, I took note of where I would be at one mile and attempted to maintain the targeted pace of around 9:00 min/mi., but after crossing that magic mile, it just "felt" too slow.

This is just another (of many) points of discipline I need to work on in my ongoing efforts to become a stronger runner, as well as, a sounder person.

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!