Battled the Boulevard - and survived!

Happily i sit, icing my knee. Why you ask? Well i just ran 6.2 miles for the second time in my life. (the first time) And i did better this year - in fact, a PR of almost 2 minutes. Maybe next year we'll break 1 hour - my friend KB and i ran it again together. See below for my full report but first the facts:

Mile 1: 9:21
Mile 2: 9:25
Mile 3: 9:44
Mile 4: 9:57
Mile 5: 10:20
Mile 6: 10:21
Finish: less than 3:00 - i forgot to hit stop when i actually crossed

Final time: 1:01:02 (based on my calculations)

And all of this was done without any training... like really... i ran a few 5ks on the treadmill and once outside but that is about it. As my friends said at brunch later that day, just imagine what you could do if you actually trained for it. I suppose that is true, but i also prefer to think that it is truly an amazing feat for me to run that far without "training" that my body is that in shape that i COULD. Four years ago I was 150 pounds and now 25lbs lighter I am comfortable enough to do that race just because I wanted to. Ok, I'll admit I was not that confident leading up to the race. In fact, yesterday I probably had a record breaking number of trips to the bathroom (and not just for all the water i was drinking) due to my nerves.

The reason this race went so well was I think the visualizations. Last night as I was falling asleep, I was almost able to meditate on the course. I visualized myself running down the big hill, along route 110, making the turnaround at the 5k and then hauling back up that awful big hill on the way back. Just like the little train who thought that can, my mantra was i know i can i know i can. and you know what? it went easier than i expected it too.