I held an average 11:12 pace for a thirty minute run today. Wow. It was 11:19 for the first 19-ish minutes, then ranged from 10:42 to 11:06 for the remainder. I’m not even specifically working at it, and I’m getting faster… It seems distinctly possible that I could soon be running 10-minute miles… Who’da thunk it?

I am officially running sub-12:00 miles. w00t. This afternoon’s run (conducted on a treadmill), did a very nice job of clearing my head of the week’s baggage. Nothing is solved, but I’m a little more focused and the panic is fading. I think if I make a point to go running on Wednesdays, come hell or high water, I could stop what are rapidly becoming my weekly breakdowns. Just taking two hours out of my schedule for a run and a good stretch may do me wonders. If I can just stop having damn lab on Wednesdays, I would have a four-hour block in which to destress before switching gears…

Problem: It’s dark outside at 05:30, and I don’t feel comfortable running through dark woodsy area off campus in the dark. Solution: Work out in the SRC in the afternoons, despite the crowdedness, and despite the possibility of no dinner and a heavily rearranged schedule. And despite the feeling of a “missed” hour of homework. I got in 5 K today on the treadmill, despite the fact that I felt like a good bit of the gym was watching me. Must ‘ve been the Lissa-Leg Lovin’. Heh. Right.

Did another almost-five-miler today, but it was rather rough on the return trip, and I had to walk a little to keep my lungs from doing seriously bad things. But I did it. As an estimator of distance (and to confirm my labelling my runs five-milers), I noticed the quarter-mile markers today. In one direction, I run from marker 16 to some distance past marker 7, but not quite to 6, meaning it is in fact over 2.25 miles at the halfway mark. Meaning I can legitimately keep calling them five-milers. I mean, what’s a tenth of a mile when you’re doing five, right? I jest. But I’m still not…

I ran something shy of five miles (4.5 – 4.7 mi, by pace) in about 58 minutes this morning. The run wasn’t difficult, really. It felt long, but not difficult. I may start focusing on picking up the pace more in the first half, since I have a tendency to go slow on the way out and haul ass to get back home. I’m not even going to repeat the fact that I’m tired. I suspect this will endure for the remainder of the quarter.