Post Surgery Update 9.5

     I wanted to give you all a quick update on things, but I wanted to save my 10th and final post surgery update for what should be my final follow up visit with the surgeon.  Training for my leg of the Team Elite Glass City Marathon relay team has been going really well.  I have managed to hit all my longer distance runs with minor soreness. 

     My leg of the relay is 5.3 miles and this past Wednesday my training plan called for a 5.5 mile run.  For the majority of all my runs I have kept my pace between 9:45 and 10:10 per mile trying to be as consistent as possible.  If I am feeling good and my pace out of the gate is faster I tried to maintain that, and if it was slower I tried to maintain that as well.  The other thing I tried to do is keep the elevation changes to a minimum as possible.  Now its not like I live in a hilly place, but I would avoid highway overpasses and other small hills as much as I could.  Wednesday's run I wanted to change things up a bit with my pace and the elevation.

     I headed out on a route that would take me over two highway overpasses and planned my pacing to start out slow and increase my pace as each mile ticked by till I got to the last half mile, then I would shut it down and slide back into a slower pace.  I let my body dictate the pace of that first mile seeing how I felt, which for me was a 10:36 mile.  As each mile went on I was feeling better and better, and by the time I finished mile five I was cruising at 9:24 pace.

     After I slowed my pace back down for that last half mile I took note of where I was in relation to my house and how I was feeling at the time.  It was at that moment I said I want six.  I just didn't want leave a half mile out there that I knew I could do, so I said screw the plan and went for it.  Come on, it's only a half mile, right?  I dropped back to a 9:40 pace and finished the extra half mile feeling like I really accomplished something.