10 miles: A history

So the Cherry Blossom 10-miler is in two weeks. You might recall this race: The photo at right on this blog is from last year's race, and it was a doozy for me. It had been a gorgeous day and a gorgeous course full of cherry blossoms and I had unexpectedly lost steam at mile 2. It was a miserable run for me and I vowed that "next year" would be better.

"Next year" is in two weeks. And despite much training, it will not be better.

A little history for you (and attention "real" runners: Yes, these times are mega slow):

Best official 10-miler: May 2009, 2:02:13
Worst official 10-miler: November 2007, 2:20:18
Last year's Cherry Blossom: 2:13:02

My 10-milers this past month: 2:25; 2:28; 2:24

I want to blame the weight but I don't think that's fully it. I've been heavier and done better. And I am trying so very hard. But I do suppose I need to add speed-work to my routine to try to get faster. If you're familiar with my history, though, you know it's not so simple. Whenever I add a day of speed-work to my week, I soon get injured. I'm a little gun-shy.

Yesterday's 10-miler wasn't awful. It was a gorgeous day, and thankfully, Greg convinced me we should go to First Landing. It was perfect. I did a wee bit better than other past efforts this month. But I am worried about the race. There's a 2:20 cut-off point. And I just want to enjoy what I swore last year I would enjoy this year.

I will taper next Sunday and hope that a little rest - plus the energy of race day - does the trick. And, despite my urge to do so, I will not start speed-work until AFTER the race. As they say, better to be undertrained and healthy at the starting line than overtrained and injured.

Hoping for the best.

OH, P.S. I had a wild dream last night, and I hope it signifies a turning point. You know how I would constantly dream of eating bad things? Well, last night, I dreamed I was at work, and someone dropped off these huge care packages from One Life Fitness (the old Gold's Gym -- yesterday, our waitress at D'Egg was wearing a One Life shirt so I guess that's where the reference came from). The boxes were filled with green peppers, lettuce, grapes, tangerines, etc. I was thrilled and said, "Finally, something given out at work I can eat!" Wild....