Catch Me If You Can -- 98 Minutes

I had an awesome run today! It was super warm (70 degrees at 8am and probably into the 90s by the time we finished), so I have no idea how I didn't melt. The half-marathoners were scheduled to go 7 miles, and the full marathoners 10. I've been trying to follow the full marathon schedule (even though I'm 90% sure I'll "only" run the half in San Antonio), but I didn't know when we started running whether I'd be up for 10 miles or not, so I left it to a game-time decision.

I had a nice little mini-group around me on the trail: Gary and Russ in front, and Kelsie and Ernie just behind. It was wonderful to run with so many people! Kelsie was a trooper -- Ernie, Gary, and Russ are usually much faster than me, and we were all averaging less than a 10 minute/mile pace! Not too shabby. Plus, it was one of the longest (if not the longest) runs Kelsie's ever done!

I tried Cytomax at the first water stop -- the "drink of choice" for the San Antonio marathon. Ugh! Talk about disgusting. It tasted like super sweet syrup and looked unnaturally electric pink. Why companies try to out-do Gatorade, I'll never figure out. They should just leave well enough alone.

Anyway, at the end of our 7+ mile loop, I decided to continue on with Ernie, and Russ joined us for a few more miles. I have no idea how I ended up out in front of them, but I was pushing the pace for most of the remaining distance. And, at the end, as Ernie and Russ started to kick it up, I just turned on after burners I didn't even know I had and yelled over my shoulder, "Come on boys!" I smoked 'em! Well, that's an exaggeration, but I did beat them! Maybe 1 in 10 times I can do that. Amazing! I finished the 10 miles in 98 minutes, and I could probably subtract 4 or 5 minutes off that time for resting at the water stops. Yahoo!

I've tried to think back to what I did differently that made this run so good, and I can't figure it out! I ate too much food last night at Mom & Dad's (somehow two small bowls of lowfat ice cream seemed like a good idea). I ate the same breakfast I always consume before Saturday runs: coffee (half caf) with almond milk and half a PowerBar. I ran with my CamelBack instead of my hand-held water bottle and filled it with PowerBar electrolyte drink mix; maybe that helped? I didn't eat any goos along the run; in fact, the only thing I consumed were pretzels at the water stops (they're just sooooo good!).

Oh, there was that 4.something earthquake last night. Maybe I need a good rumbler to make my legs move -- ha! Actually, I ran quite well late last spring on the Livermore run when it was really hot outside. Maybe I do better in the heat!? Guess I better order up a hot day come November 16.