River time

Yesterday was a trip down memory lane. Our training plan called for 14 miles with 6 at pace, and I was staying with my parents in East Tennessee. So, I woke up early--in the dark--had toast and a quick cup of coffee and drove down to the Oak Ridge Marina.

I ran about 6.5 miles through the neighborhoods where I used to do my weekend running during my seasons of high school cross country & track! Then I headed down to the Clinch River greenway for 6 miles of goal marathon pace runnin'. There were a few moments that felt tougher than usual but other moments felt on target. I used some of my favorite mantras: Make yourself proud; You're lucky to be doing this; One more mile; Go time; This is it.....All in all, the 6 miles were in my pace zone of 8:43-8:53, and my last 2 miles were sub 8:40.

In the afternoon, I hung out with a dear, dear teammate from cross country--who was an all-Knoxville & all-state runner. It was a blast! Go, Kathy, go :>

ps- Next week is hammer time...I'll write about THAT tomorrow :)