Nothing to be afraid of!

First off, I should say that I splurged BIG TIME and bought the new Garmin Forerunner 405. They got an early shipment in down at the Garmin store so I went to pick one up for my friend who was stuck at work. He called and they only had 6 left. I was there in less than an hour and they were down to 3! I felt the pressure...so I bought one too! That left only one after my purchases... so cheers to whomever that lucky duck was!

I was very nervous about my 6-miler. I dilly-dallied all morning and into the early afternoon. Finally, after running out of excuses, I put on my running gear. Strapped on the new watch. Grabbed my Ipod and Gatorade. Out the door I went. Drove up to Montrose, fought the Cubs traffic, got a decent parking spot and got ready to go. To change it up and overcome the mental challenges I have with the lake right now, I decided to head north a mile first, make my way back and then head south for 2 miles before the final turn around.

I set the watch for an 11 min/mile pace. That first mile I stayed pretty much on pace. And the GPS was working great because it was almost perfectly on with the mile markers posted. By the 2nd mile, I noticed I was speeding up a little, but I figured it was because there were more downhill spots on the way back. By the third mile, I knew that 11 minute miles were too slow for me. I was feeling great. Trying not to get overzealous, I did try to keep slowing down, but everytime I looked down at the watch, my pace was around 10:30. I figured I could live with that. I kept right on truckin! When I finally got to the first accessible water fountain I was so excited that I could actually stop the time and distance on the watch and just drink for a second. Then I trudged on. Got to my turn around point and realized that maybe the reason those 3 miles south had gone so well was because the wind had been at my back :) Very windy on my way back. I thought this might slow me down a bit, and it did at first. But soon, I seemed to be right back on my previous pace. And for the record, I can't believe how easy this run was going...I kept waiting for the fatigue to hit me at any moment. I hit mile 5 and felt amazing...not tired in the least so I did something that I never do. I challenged myself to pick it up and run that last mile in strong and hard. And I did just that :)

I was running about a 9:30 pace for that last mile which is not like me at all! I finished the 6 miles at 1:01:48. A 10:18 min/mile pace! Obviously, this is just one run. But I can't help but feel there is something big in the making here! It's got me excited about running again! I want to beat my times and challenge myself to more than I've given myself credit for! If my next few long runs continue to feel this good, I might actually have to change my marathon finishing time goal! And I love this watch!!! :)