Burke-Gilman Speed Queens

Today we returned to the scene of the ten mile run to repeat half of that.  There we were, cruising along, and all of the sudden, the voice from the app that announces splits, miles and all the stats as one passes them came on and told me I ran my first mile in 8:13 or some such nonsense.  I was convinced that there was a glitch until it just continued for all five miles!  They weren’t all in the eight minute zone but they sure didn’t stray too far from it, either.  To finish all five miles with an astonishing 9:08 average pace is just mind boggling to me.  For me this is FAST.   I credit a few things: 

1. My kid pulls me along.  She paces faster than I do and I want to chat with her so I run harder than usual.  Today was no exception.  I couldn’t figure out why I felt so tired at first and credited it to running the ten a couple of days ago.  When I started hearing the splits I totally got it!
2. We’ve been running in some fairly significant heat.  Most of our runs, lately, are in the middle of the day because we both love sleeping in more than we love early morning runs.  Call us crazy.  Today we were at the Burke-Gilman trail by 9:00 and got to run in the cooler, shadier morning.  All of that running in the heat has actually trained us to be a little faster…  Maybe.  We will see if this trend holds.
3. The Burke-Gilman is flat as a pancake.  You run along a swampy, slow river slough, where I run (from Wayne Golf Course to Redhook Brewery is just a tad over ten miles, we start at Wayne, always). I live, however, on a hill.  At the zenith of the hill, so I always run downhill at the beginning of the run and end it with a long, slow slog uphill.  While I don’t love it, it’s not as hard as it once was so I imagine it helps when I’m running downhill a lot or, in this case, completely flat.

I may have promised Guinevere that I’ll train for a full marathon with her.  Shhhh.  Don’t tell anyone.  What have I gotten into?  I just want more opportunities to run and chat with her!  Today she thanked me for forcing her to go running a lot.  She said she gets it, now, why I want to go all the time.  She’s got the bug, now.  The one that itches at you every day until you go for a run becasue you know that no day is ever as good as the ones with running in them.  (Sigh of contentment.) This is a bug I’m proud to have passed on to her.  😉