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12 miles vs 14 miles: How about a half-marathon?

May 26th, 2007

Well today was a long run, and I couldn’t decide if I would run 12 miles or 14 miles. I ended up deciding to almost split the difference and run a half marathon.

My plan was to take it easy, and I mostly feel like I did, although my pace was around 8min/mile, which in retrospect sounds pretty fast. But if I felt like I was taking it relatively easy, and I felt pretty good afterwards, then I guess I was taking it easy.

I ran along the Burke Gilman trail, and as I turned on to the trail I noticed a woman running about the same pace as me, but maybe a little slower. I ended up passing her, then she caught up to me at the next light, then I passed her again, then she passed me at one of my walk breaks. After we passed each other a couple times, we both decided it was time to break the ice and chat a little. It appeared as if we’d be running next to each other for a while, we might as well be social.

I rarely run with other people. In fact, I can’t think of ever running on a long run with another person. And running along with someone actually makes the running a lot easier. I guess it makes sense. You’re distracted from the process of running, and so it just seems easier.

When we first started chatting I asked her what pace she was expecting to run at, she answered “around 9min/miles, maybe faster”. I said, “well, you’re running a lot faster than that right now, we’ve been averaging around 8min/miles”. She was surprised because she felt like the pace was pretty easy.

As we chatted, I suggested to her that she probably had a lot more in her if she chose to run faster. After all, she was running a “slow” training run of 17+ miles (she had an extra 2+ miles before and after where I joined the trail) and she was carrying on a casual conversation the whole time… and she felt relatively effortless at an 8:06/mile average… According to her, her 1/2 marathon PR was 1:45 and her marathon PR was 3:40. I encouraged her to go for an even faster PR considering she was essentially matching or beating those paces on a slow run.

For me, I was still recovering from my cold, I’m still stuffy and somewhat congested. But this run was absolutely effortless. I’m sure it was having company. Now I just need to find a running partner that wants to match my pace and distance.

Entry Filed under: Running