Watching the watch

I’ve been reading other runner’s blogs, some that are training for Houston like me. I have been inspired by bloggers who run everyday and know their mile splits and list them studiously on their daily post.

I’m not that kind of runner. I want to run farther and faster, but I lean more philosophical and less analytical when it comes to details of life like running. Most days I just run and the stop-watch is not even counting. On speed days I run hard and recover. On easy days I run; well … easy. There are some days where I know generally how fast I ran but usually I just know… “That was a pretty good run” -or- “That run stunk.”

Needless to say I have not done much to figure out pacing for this year’s marathon. Last year I spent some training time making sure I was able to maintain my goal pace for a reasonable distance. This year I have just run.

So this morning I decided to try working on my pace. Plus I got a new watch for Christmas. I was scheduled to run 6 miles so I punched the buttons to make “CHRONO” indiglo, and then I pressed the “start/split” button and I was off …

The first mile I ran in 7:33. “WHOA! Way to stinkin fast. Slow down a little Tommy.” The next mile I ran 9:24. “Dang it boy, too slow.” So I planned to speed up but I started thinking about breakfast tacos or something and got lost in my mind and forgot to think about running and finished the third mile in 9:25. I ran the fourth mile and thought I was probably still running too slow and looked at my watch and it said 8:31. “Now that’s more like it.” Mile 5 – 8:31 “Cool consistency.”. Mile 6 – 8:24.

I can’t run a marathon at 8:30 pace but it was good to hit a spot where I was running at a relatively even pace. Tomorrow morning the watch is staying at home.