Start time: 9/9/07, 8:00am
Location: National Mall & Capital Crescent Trail
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 8:47min/mile

Another 10-miler this morning, but one in which I learned something very important—I need someone in a race that I can pace off, get discouraged by, and ultimately beat. Because if I have all three things, I’m golden. Laura and I ended up losing Dave and Paul around mile 4.5 today; they were about 10 seconds ahead of us, hit a light that we missed, and were gone. But as Laura and I pushed on (and I was still feeling a little beat from this week’s exhaustion, although a lot of rest on Saturday helped a great deal), we were still doing good. I’d told Laura that if she wanted to talk off at any point she was free to do so, and around mile 8.5 she began to pull ahead. Then, as we got closer to the second turn-around (at mile 9), Dave came through—and then we saw Paul hit the turn-around, not that far ahead of us.

Really, all it ultimately took was for Laura to pass Paul for me to end up picking up the pace. I didn’t catch Laura by the finish (she was about 10 seconds of me) but that combination of having a target to focus on and also knowing the end was in sight? Perfect.

Fingers crossed that next Sunday’s long run goes well. After the last one’s disaster (courtesy stomach problems), I need a strong long run.

On a random note, my right foot is a little sore. Hmph.