800s

As I left the track tonight my mind wondered back to high school and my thoughts on running 15 years ago...yes, 15 years ago!  I HATED running, I remember that stupid ticket run at Robinson and I would dread it each time it came around.  A ticket run is where the gym teachers would punch a ticket for each lap we ran.  I would always do the minimum amount of laps required to pass.  My miles now are not even close to what they were in high school.  I was slow because I didn't want to put effort into running, cause I just didn't like it. I would run around a 13 minute mile and that was if I was trying.  In high school, kids are able to excel much more than as adults or so I thought.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I started running just a few years ago, yet I keep improving and today was one of those days where I was really proud of how far I have come.  15 years ago I would have never said that my adult-self would be running 5ks let alone a marathon.  Now I am running the best I have in my life.  This morning I even woke up to run 2 miles at the gym before I went to work, just to get some extra mileage in.  Then tonight we ran 800s, I started with a mile and a half warm, did my 8 800s, and then had a half mile cool down.  Just one month ago we did the same workout and I wish I had done my splits the way I did tonight because then I would have a true comparison, but I can tell I did much better.

Here are my splits from December 21st:
1st and 2nd 800 - 8:55 (about 4:23 each)
3rd and 4th 800 - 8:25 (about 4:13 each)
5th and 6th 800 - 8:30 (about 4:15 each)
7th and 8th 800 - 8:36 (about 4:18 each)
Average pace - 8:34

Here are my splits from tonight:
1.5 mile Warm-up - 13:56
1st 800 - 4:09
2nd 800 - 4:12
3rd 800 - 4:11
4th 800 - 4:10
5th 800 - 4:11
6th 800 - 4:13
7th 800 - 4:20 (I wanted to take the second to last one slow so I could push it during the last one)
8th 800 - 4:02 MY FASTEST!!!
0.5 mile cool down - 4:57
Average pace - 8:44
Total mileage at track - 6 miles
Total mileage for the day - 8 miles

Although the average pace is slower tonight, that also includes my warm-up and cool down.  I have come a long way in a short period of time.  I can't wait to see what each race brings, most importantly the one on March 17th!  Bring it Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon!  Oh, and that ticket run...I'll do one of those again too ;)

Perfect quote for the night!