So much better when it's just running for how you feel

The last week or two I've kind of lost caring about keeping things a certain pace.  Ok, I take that back, I have incorporated 1 speedwork day a week where I try to keep below a 9 minute pace for at least 2 miles.  Other than that, the last few weeks I've been winging it to some extent.

A few days ago I didn't look at my watch, just ran by how I felt.  I felt like going a little faster that day, but was surprised when I looked at the pace and saw that my first mile was 9:49 followed by 9:06 and 9:03.  I would have guessed the whole thing was closer to 9:30-9:45 the whole time.  It was one of those effortless runs where I just let it go and didn't really care too much.  If only I could have that kind of attitude when it "matters".

Then again today was having some watch and pacing issues. Was planning on starting at 10:00 and then getting gradually faster.  It didn't really work out that way.  The day ended up a little bit warmer and it was the first day I wore a tank top and shorts (and needed sunscreen). Started out faster than planned.  Watch stopped twice on my run... the first iteration was just over a half mile, followed by 2 (watch restarted) runs that were around 5.5 miles each.  I ended up with 11.67 miles when I added up all three of these segments.  Looking back at my pace, I can see the slowing down reflected in the paces toward the middle miles.  I did speed up at the end with my final mile being 9:36 so in some ways I achieved my goal.  But actually the best part was that I really didn't care.

This was my final really "long" run before a half marathon that at this point I don't actually care about having a goal for completion time.  It needs to be a fun run because that's actually what I need at this time.  The fun part about today was it was a group run for my running group and there weren't many of us there but I ran into a lot of MIT people (Marathoner in Training) and was encouraged by that.  Also a friend of mine who pushed her two children in a stroller while managing a pace far faster than I could ever do.  She really amazes me.

During the middle of the run, there was a lake that I've always just run by but never around.  i looked at the marker which said it was 1.2 miles around.  I decided to go ahead and do it and worked it into my overall mileage.  Ended up really enjoying it and now I won't just skip by the lake the next time, I might do that again.