Planned: 6.5 miles. Actual: 10.1 miles…Oops?
I mentioned in an earlier post that I kept going too fast in my recent runs, so I took care to make sure I felt like I was jogging throughout my whole run. But for some strange reason, I had this nagging feeling inside telling me that I could definitely do more than 6.5 miles today. So I decided within my first mile that I would be going double digits today on the mileage, no matter what happens.
Let’s be honest: no matter how much I told myself that it really would be okay if I ended up running this thing in a 10 minute pace, in the back of my head, I knew I wasn’t going to let that happen. Going at the pace I was, though, it literally felt like I was going more at a 10:30. I mean, I felt like I barely picked up my feet. But I knew if I went any faster, I would run the risk of injury, especially since I haven’t run this much since the half marathon and it was pretty cold (the last thing I’d want is a pulled muscle). By the time I hit the halfway point, I didn’t feel tired at all.
Once I was about a mile away from home, though, I couldn’t take it anymore. I picked up the pace a bit. Half a mile in, I was striding. During the last 400 m, I sprinted. I couldn’t help it; I wasn’t about to pretend like I had no energy left. By the end of the run, I still wasn’t tired. I looked down at my watch and thought I was delusional at first—but no, it really did say 1:30.30. Yup, that was definitely not a 10:30 pace; it was an unbelievable 8:57/mile, which is, on average, three seconds slower than my half-marathon pace.
Granted, Modesto lacked the insane hills of the Nike Women’s course, but still, this was a pretty huge surprise. So of course, I told Mr. Mann what happened right away, to which he replied, “I’m telling you it’s nutty how much the iron affects running. And the sporadic training (referring to my lack of consistent running since the half) kept you from draining the iron reserve any further and allowed it to build back up. Once you get it at a good level, and train hard, you’ll be even more amazed.”
So those nasty, blood-tasting suckers iron pills I’ve been taking were really worth it, after all! It’s been a little over four hours since I ran, and I still feel like I only ran four miles at most today (although I still feel the need to eat everything in sight even after already eating lunch). Fe is my new favorite element on the periodic table now, for sure.
Ironically (bad joke of the day), I was wearing this shirt under my jacket. I guess my subconscious was trying to tell me as I was dressing up that no matter what other form of exercise I may get myself into, running will always be my number one. Always.
