Beat the rain AND the sun!

I was up and out the door before sunrise today, and back just in time to beat the downpour that popped up!  Not too difficult to get out of bed today, as I was actually excited for my run.  I think the main part of the excitement was getting to run and not really having a pace in mind.  I get nervous when I have a tempo run or something where my pace is important, like it's a race.  But this was just a long run, no real expectations except for to get it done. 

I started off exactly as I planned: nice and easy, at a 10:09 mile. The second mile was about the same, just a little faster (10:00).  Then, quite without any warning or planning, my splits started to get faster.  It wasn't an increase in effort... it just kind of happened!  I think I am a natural negative-splitter.  My body just takes a couple of miles to get warmed up, and then it likes to get faster!  During miles 6 and 7, I did have to tell myself to "stay strong"a few times, as by that point I realized I was going to have the chance for a perfect negative split run.  The final mile, I will admit, I pushed it.  I like to finish all long runs with a "kick" at the end.  For this one, I thought I was closer to the end than I actually was... so I started to sprint at around 7.6 miles.  Way too early!  Slowed down a bit and then picked it up for the final 0.2 miles.  Totally rocked it :)



And there we have it, friends, a negative-split run!  I started thinking that if I could run the final 5.1 miles in about 9 min/mile, I'd have a 2:00-half.  I really do think I had that in me today (until that last kick, that is).  And I know that when I run my next half, I won't have any 10-minute splits in there.  Makes me feel super-confident for my next half and definitely going under 2 hours :)

The weather was much better than it has been.  72 degrees (same for the "real feel" temp), with 88% humidity and a dewpoint of 70.  I will take it, especially since for the first part of my run there wasn't any sun to speak of as well!  Still, I was definitely hot and sweaty glowing by the end of my run!

I also had two first-time events this morning:

1. First time wearing a running skirt--this went better than I expected!  It was comfortable (no wedgies LOL), and allowed me to stay cool.  I definitely am going to invest in more of these (this one, I got from a FB site where women resell their (gently) used running gear).
2. First time wearing my Fuel Belt.  I bought it last month, but haven't needed to wear it.  It holds two 10-oz. water bottles, but since I haven't ran more than 6 miles at a time since my half in May, my hand-held Nathan bottle (which holds 10 ounces) is all that I have needed.  I was really worried about trying out the Fuel Belt, and my concerns seemed founded during the first half-mile or so of my run.  It seemed to bounce around a lot and I questioned my decision to wear it.  However, I got used to the sensation and quickly forgot about it.  I liked not having anything in my hand, and I also liked having the extra water.  I ended up drinking 15 oz. during the run itself (and the last 5 during my cool-down walk), so it was definitely needed!  

Rest day tomorrow!  Since I can't talk about running or training, I think I will blog about my journey to find the best running shoes :)