Before I begin, special thanks to Run to the Finish for organizing this, and to Running Laur for the great race bib inspired banner.
I had to run my race on the indoor track since it was -22C with the windshield on Thursday. My original prediction for the race result was 1 hour 5 minutes. It was a bit of a conservative estimate, but I also knew with all of the miles I was pumping out with my current training plan that I may be a tad slower. In the back of my head I felt that a sub 60 min finish would be a bit of a stretch.
After a one mile warm up, I stretched and then started my watch. I came bounding out of the gate at a 4:45min/km (7:38mil/min) pace, but quickly slowed to about a 5:05 min/km pace (8:10 min/mi) pace.
I thought for sure I would slow down within a few miles, but somehow the pace felt easy, so I kept going. At 8K(5 miles), I was just over 41 minutes (about 2.5 minutes faster than my 8K fun run two weeks ago). I guess these tempo runs are starting to pay off!
I finished the 7 miles (11.2 K) in 57 minutes, 10 seconds - 5:04 min/km (8:10mil/min) pace.
I was sooo excited, not only because I beat my predicted time by nearly 8 minutes, but because it really felt effortless, and I felt could have kept going for at least 10K at this pace.
Since I could hardly believe the time myself, I took a picture of my Garmin, because as Vava says, Garmin don't lie.
(Note: When I was running I stopped my watch as soon as it said 11.2km (7 miles), when I turned it on later to snap a picture it said 11.16K - I guess it rounds up when it is operating, so I added 3 seconds to account for the 0.04km (4 meter) difference)
I had so much fun running this virtual race so again thanks to Run to the Finish for organizing this great event!
In other news, in case you haven't heard, there is a "Freakishly Flexible 5K"that marathon mama is organizing for Feb 14th in honour of Non-Runner Nancy who can no longer run! :(
Go over to her blog to join up and show some support to Nancy!
Good luck all you virtual runners, can't wait to read the race reports!
29 comments:
congrats on your 7-mile pr :)
that is so awesome that you finished way faster than your predicted time! i'm glad you mentioned you did yours on thursday because i was wondering if it had to be done today and i didn't quite feel like running another .75 today to get to 7 miles. (sad, i know) terrific job, especially since you said you finished it so quickly and so effortlessly!!
Good job! Somedays we doubt our training and then without warning, we get rewarded for our hard work. What was the message that Iverson had about practise?
You looked like you were having a good run.
(Hubs)
ohh great time!!
Great job on your 7-miler! Wooohoo!!
Great job on the 7 miles! And a PR! weather was great today!
Woot! Awesome time :)
Hooray for 7 on the 7th, and double hooray for doing it faster than planned. Good job!
Wow, that's an awesome 7 miler! Congrats!
Holy moly, you are getting FAST! Congrats on a kick-ass virtual race. All of that training is clearly paying off.
Have a great (rest of the) weekend.
good job, that is fast. I was hoping for that time, but never was able to work out a 7 miler this week, and today was my long run. bummer
WTG on that run! I hope to some day do 7 in under an hour.
hey heyyy!!!! i ended up not racing mine cuz of shin/groin and 14-miler today, but i did my 7 in 56 minutes. thanks for putting this together!!! :)
OOOOOoooooops i totally meant to put that comment on run to finish's blog. hahahaha. great job on your 7 miles!!!!!!!
WOW!! Nice time! Great job on your 7 miler.
Great job with the run! I'm bummed my cold didn't let me get my run in today. Going to have to use one from earlier in the week.
Wow that was a fast 7 miler! Great job on the PR!
Wow Marci..that Pfitz is really working for you! I am not sure we will ever be able to run together anymore. :) (Except in Barbados).
WOW awesome job marci!!!! those tempo runs are definitely paying off!
did i mention i can't believe you did it on an indoor track!
I just read a blog entry by Mama Simmons about how "you're faster than you think." And you chica, are faster than you think. :o)
Great "race"!
Congratulations! Fantastic time!
Awesome time for your 7 miler! Hope the 22 miles went well too.
Look at you just destroying your planned time. Great run and the fact that it was so easy is a huge bonus.
It is so nice to know that you are making progress.
Wow! That IS fast fast fast! Great running, and for this to feel effortless must be a wonderful thing indeed. Your race reports for 2009 will be wonderful I'm certain.
Thanks for the shoutout also!
hehehe,... thanks for understanding! :) i am training for a 20-mile race on march 29th "eastern states"-- it starts from maine, runs thru NH, and ends in MA, very cool. i have only ever run a half before, so i'm preparing for a marathon with the 20 mile race being my stepping stone. no marathon date set yet.
Awesome job!!! Thanks for stopping by with encouraging words! I can't wait to get back to running!!! This hopping nonsense is killing my armpits!
GREAT job on the 7!
Thanks, Marci, great job to you, too!
I can't even fathom -22 degrees...
Great race. Awesome time!
Post a Comment