10, 1:40

So Saturday I headed out for my long run. Beautiful day, a little on the chilly side even though you can tell spring is trying hard to fight off winter soon enough. I tend to just accept what i am going to run, I don't really think about the long windy route I will be taking, other then the fact I know where to turn. When I route out them on www.mapmyrun.com (great planning tool) I focus more on turns then I do on how long between the turns there are. I think this breaks down the 'daughting' task ahead of me.... Also tip - never look more then 15 feet ahead of your feet, there is no point, unless you are looking to defeat your mind... body over mind says only look far enough ahead to make sure you aren't going to trip and fall on your face. :)

10 miles felt strong, with my hills at the end, although I need to start throwing them in at the beginning of the run now, so I can practice maintainning pace after the hills. I run pretty even, miles 4,5 and 6 where spot on the same time, and I don't look at my watch when I do long runs. They aren't about the time, they are about getting the miles on my legs. (although I still seem to want to run faster, I have to calm myself down)

After finishing up spot on at 1 hr 40 min, I did the math (I am good at math, just not while running and trying to calculate mileage... I hav no idea why, I just fail miserably at it)I had hoped to set a goal of going sub 2 hrs for my 13.1, half marathon in may.... I haven't really told anyone about this yet though, b/c i tend to set my goals a bit high and blab all about them and then can't seem to meet them... so I am learning to have internal goals that I just set and keep for myself, so far, so good....

2 hours, hilly half marathon, here I come... bring it... I have 6 1/2 weeks to make it happen, and that is more then enough time if I can manage to stay health, and stay on track with the schedule. But I can tell you finally hitting the 10 mile run after 3 weeks of 8 miles feeling rough... 10 feels good, and I have plenty of time to spare to keep the mileage up and get my legs use to the distance.

I also realized I finally am not struggling as much to get out and run, i finish strong... the cross-trainning I think is paying off. : )