Today was a bit warmer for our final Saturday team run. It was close to 60 this morning early, and has hovered at that until after our run. A bit of sun but mostly overcast. Still, it was a bit warmer than I’d like but close to what is expected for the 10K next week.

We had the same ‘ol 4 mile course to run today, and I was determined to make it faster than I had previously. I set the pace timer / alarm on my watch to 10:45 for each mile. I was much slower that that on my first mile, but apparently picked the pace back up. The mile markers weren’t in place today, but I thought I was ahead after 3 miles. For some reason, the final hill was a killer today. I was struggling with the hill, but finally conquered it. I must have been pushing during the second and third miles, slow during the first and last miles. Final time was 41:46 – about 1:14 better than the 10:45 pace I had marked. Today’s pace computes to a 1:04:41 pace. With no hills, it should be faster.

One exciting note is that the team coaches selected one person who showed more guts and effort than everyone else. That was Pat – my (new) next door neighbor. She always has a smile on her face even though this is very hard for her — and has two young children at home that keep her up nights and prevents her from working out as much as she would like. I didn’t see anyone else more deserving over the past 10 weeks!