Today I had my long run for the week. According to my training plan, I had to run 3 miles today, and I made it. That’s now the longest I’ve run in a single session. I had planned on running all the way from home to an intersection about a mile and a half away, but only made it 1.25 miles before being stopped by this guy. Seriously, couldn’t the engineer see I was running and stop for me? Oh well. Lately I had been switching to walking for a break after the first mile but made it further this time. After the train passed, I resumed my run and turned around at the intersection. The way home was a little easier as the sun was to my back, but I still ended up going slower the second mile than the first.
The first mile time was great; I finished it in 10:32, which is now my personal best for a single mile. The second mile time was 13:28, and the third was 13:56. For a little bit during the third mile I pushed myself harder and ran at a pace of between 8-10 minutes for about a quarter mile. It sure felt like I was going even faster than that!
This now wraps up the month of July. During the month, I was able to run a total of 23.19 miles, increased my average pace from about 15 minutes/mile at the beginning of the month to 12:41 today, and my fastest single mile from 13:42 to 10:32. I think it was a pretty good month!
This also wraps up the first week of my training plan for the 10k. It’s a great feeling to have survived one week, but there’s seven left in the schedule. Next Sunday I get to increase my distance on the “long run” to 3.5 miles.
