Splits and Miscellany

I just got back from a run with Mica and it felt hard today! I don't know whether it was another night of no sleep or if it was due to the hard-ish effort I put in yesterday. Or some combination of the two. Regardless, the planned seven miler turned into a 6.7 miler. We took advantage of the warm temperatures and the clear ground to run on the West side of Champaign this morning.

It's warm right now, but who knows how long it will last? It's still February, after all, and Winter can last until May. I've seen a snow shower in May before, so this is not a stretch. I also don't want to get used to changing my running wardrobe if I'm just going to have to change back.

I forgot to list my crazy splits from yesterday and my surprisingly crazy splits from today.

Yesterday:

Mile 1 - 10:00

Mile 2 - 9:43

Mile 3 - 10:11

Mile 4 - 9:48

Mile 5 - 10:03

Mile 6 - 9:59

The average pace was 9:57, according to Joanie Garmin

Today:

Mile 1 - 10:13

Mile 2 - 10:20

Mile 3 - 9:34

Mile 4 - 9:48

Mile 5 - 9:49

Mile 6 - 9:50

Mile 0.7 - 9:21

Average pace was 9:52...so not bad, right? My knee and my foot feel a little janky today, but I've been pretty religious about stretching these days, and I plan on icing my knee when I'm done teaching today. And napping. Naps are highly underrated.

In other news, 'sup with Boston? Not that I had much of a chance to qualify before, but it looks even less likely now. Or rather, it looks even less likely that I would ever qualify AND register. You kinda knew that the qualifying times themselves were going to change, what with last year's record sell-out and all that, but the rolling registration system is interesting. Now you cannot simply qualify. You need to be faster than that.

You have to be more than just competitive with yourself in the end. You have to want to beat the guys or gals in the 3:30 or 3:10 pace group.

None of these things will be a problem for me, luckily, as I will most likely never qualify. Can't say that I would never not want to qualify, but it does not appear to be in the cards for the near future.

Boston is strange anyway. On the one hand, you have the naturally gifted elites (who, I'm sure, love running a lot and get paid to do it, too). On the other hand, you have the rest of the fast people. And then the accompanying attitudes are strange, too. I might never ever qualify for Boston, but that does not mean that I'm not working hard, that I don't have big running dreams, or that I'm not equally devoted to running as the person who "sets the big goal of qualifying for Boston in his or her first/second/fiftieth marathon". I'm not a jogger, and I resent deeply the implication that because it takes me 4 + hours to complete a marathon, that I'm somehow having an easier time of it.

...aaaaaaaaaand I'm off my soapbox now. Enjoy your Friday AND the break in the nasty weather!