Competing with myself

I’ve said before that I’m really not a competitive person.  When I run races, I run them to finish them, not to beat anyone else.  I do have a fear of being the last one to finish, but that hasn’t come close to happening yet .

Last week, I went on my longest run so far with Z in the stroller- 5 miles.  It took me 53 minutes- a time I was quite pleased with.  I only needed to run 4 miles today, but I felt great and the weather was amazing so I figured I’d tack on an extra mile.  I kept an eye on my Garmin and noticed I was on track to finish before last week’s finish time.  I was really hoping I could do it in 50 minutes, but that wasn’t happening (not this week at least, maybe next week!).  I hit 5 miles at 50:53 so I was just over 2 minutes quicker than last week.  I did have to push it a little harder in my last mile to get that time.  My average pace was 10:09 and my last mile was 9:24.  Yay!

Running with the stroller can be such a challenge sometimes, but it’s so worth it.  It’s helped me get so much stronger.  Today’s run with Z was even more fun because he chatted with me the whole time.  He babbled all 5 miles.  He even discovered that when we go over the bumpy crosswalk while he’s talking, it makes his voice sound funny.  He is too cute .

Only one more run this week on Friday, then my half marathon is on Sunday.  Wahoo! I’m ready!

Happy running!