St. Paddy's

Call it the luck of the Irish...the running of the green...but whatever it was, it wasn't expected. I haven't had a good 5 weeks of running. It has actually been a bit difficult to explain but it has been hard pushing anything more than 6 miles and any pace better than 9 minutes. I did get a couple of back to back 10 milers at an acceptable pace of 8:26 but in general it has been a struggle.

I signed up for the St. Paddy's 10 miler a few weeks back, after the LV marathon. I have run it before and last year was a master's PR for me at 1:17:55. I even contemplated not going yesterday because I really didn't know if it was going to be a fun time. The weather was perfect at about 42 dgrees and sunny. I told my myself to get out there, expect nothing and just have an enjoyable run.

I toed the line very relaxed and just waiting for the start. I was really expecting to be in the neighborhodd of 8:25's and just hoping to get in under 1:25. Well, I started out at about 7:40 pace and never let go of it keeping a consistent strong pace averaging 7:37 for the entire 10 miles. I really felt great! I beat last year's master's PR by 90 seconds coming in at 1:16:26. Truly, I was shocked and still not sure how it happened. Maybe I let my body heal for the last 5 weeks; maybe I approached it very relaxed, maybe it was the luck of the Irish. Whatever it was, it gave me some much needed confidence. It's funny how running can do that, just when you need it, it gives once more, something back to you!