When I climbed out of bed at 7am, I was thrilled to have slept in and elated to find that my legs were fully functioning- a huge surprise given the brutal workouts I endured the past two days. My hamstrings were a little tight (no doubt a result of yesterday’s dead lifts) but easily relieved by some targeted foam rolling.

One bowl of Kashi with blueberries, a cup of coffee and some adequate digestive time later, I was out the door for a 6-mile pace run.   The goal of a pace workout is to run the prescribed amount of miles at your anticipated (not necessarily desired) race pace.  At this point in training, it was not a particularly intimidating undertaking since when I “race” in 14 weeks, I’ll be running 20+ more miles.  The greatest challenge was keeping my mind from wandering too far.  I had to be focused enough on the task to periodically check my Garmin, making sure I stayed on  track for time.

I effortlessly trotted through the first 5 miles, leaving not dust but a trail of perspiration behind.  As previously planned, I looped back home where my kids were waiting to join me for the last mile.  After some minor shoe tying adjustments, we were off and running.  Quite an interesting trio- one a sprinter and the other a steady plodder like myself.  We chatted, strategized and sweated together for those action-packed minutes.  And while my pace was not where it was supposed to be, I wouldn’t have wanted it to be anywhere else.