And I thought 35 minutes was a lofty goal

Considering that I had run 7:18s for a 10k 4 weeks ago, and the fact that I hadn't run a 5k under 7s yet this year, I figured that breaking 35 minutes in an 8k was a long shot. I thought it was going to be the toughest race so far in 2006. I had no idea how to run an 8k, so I went out fairly conservatively the first mile. When I looked at my watch, it said 6:51! I said to myself, "If you want to continue to break 7s you are going to have to pick it up, because you know the 2nd mile is always slower than the first." So, I increased my pace and went through the 2nd mile in 13:35! Whoa! A few more miles and a 20:25 and 27:14 later, I was on track to break 34, not 35. I don't know where any of this sudden return of speed came from, or where it went between November and June for that matter. I was so relieved at mile 4, since I had to run a 7:45 or better to achieve my goal, that I let up a little and a few people passed me. A little voice in my head said, "If you really push it, you can break 34..." and I returned, "Maybe, but it will hurt a lot and I already made my goal... so nah, I'll pass, but keep running strong and stay with the ladies in front of me." After a little less than a half mile, my body and mind realized that we didn't have much farther to go and picked it up a little. There was a "400 meters to go" sign and upon seeing that in the distance, I let my turnover and push-off increase. Looking at my watch a bit after the sign, I calculated that I would have to run a 94 to break 34 minutes, which seemed like a hard thing to do, but I decided to try anyway. At the 100m mark, I looked at the finish-line clock, and I had 30 more seconds! "Oh! I guess I'm going to beat my goal time by more than a minute!," I said in my head. Pushing the last bit, I finished in 33:52 (33:50 by my watch). I am so proud of myself.

Morning Weight: 142
Miles Today: 6
Other Exercise: biking to work
Total Miles this Week: 16