this weekend's running consisted of a pair of 10 milers. it wasn't what i had originally planned on, which was a trip down to van cortlant park for the st. patrick's day marathon races. i doubt that i would have run the full marathon distance, more likely just the half. but that plan was shelved (marathons at van cortlandt park in general) when no permit was forthcoming from the parks department. that controversy was the subject of a different post.
on saturday morning i went out for an easy 10 miler over a very challenging (read hilly) course. it's actually a 9 mile loop that i like to run on the weekends, with a quick mile out and back to bring it up to 10 miles. it was that last out and back mile that was the only one on the run to come in under 8 minutes - and barely at that with a 7:50! the entire run took me 1:26:32, for an 8:32 pace.
my recovery consisted of a trip over to zachy's (one the greatest wine stores out there) that afternoon for a huge german riesling tasting! certainly an inspired choice for st. patrick's day :D that night was a more traditional st. patrick's day celebration. between dishes of corned beef and cabbage, i drank mostly irish whiskey (a major detour from my traditional favorites of beer, wine, and martinis - in no particular order).
as would be expected, i wasn't too excited about the prospect of another 10 miles the next morning. in a concession to my less than enthusiastic state of mind, i opted to run on my easier (but relatively boring) post road route (way less climbing). but strangely, after a somewhat lethargic first two miles (in the high 8:20's), i got a burst of inspiration. that may have been due to the signs hastily put up alongside a stretch of the approach to the library parking lot: "warning, keep away: bees!" that risk was certainly a first for the post road :O
despite the lackluster start, i managed to drop my pace down to the low 7's - and had a 6:50 mile nine - treating it now as a tempo run. amazingly, even with the first two miles, i ran a 1:15:20, and averaged a 7:32 pace for the entire 10 miles. i must admit that i was surprised with that outcome - i had only wanted to run 8 minute miles and finish with a sub 1:20 (balancing out the prior day). but i'll take it :D
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