Today I finally took some time to notice how much my running has really improved. I still describe myself as a slow runner, which is true, but it's almost like a defense mechanism to protect against criticism from "real runners". In addition, I think I tend to focus on my speed compared to other runners instead of compared to how far I've come, particularly since I'm just barely post-injury. In late October, my 5k time was 33:19, with two bad IT bands and a ton of pain. Today, I did about 3 miles of speed work (warm up + 400+600+800+600+400, with a one minute walk in between sets) and that took about 29 minutes. How can I be disappointed with that?! I walked about 5 minutes recovery in this workout and still am killing my last 5k. Maybe I can't run a 7 minute mile, but I can run a 9:30 now, and I did all of my intervals at about an 8:30 pace. Considering that until mid-February, I couldn't run a quarter mile without pain shooting up my thigh, I should be thrilled. So here's to focusing on my own improvements and not about the 6 and a half foot tall guy at Centennial who was lapping me, and to keep my eyes on my own mat (to use a yoga-ism :) ).
Besides, his legs are twice as long as mine anyway. :)
Oh, last thing. Have you seen the new lululemon ad? It's in April's Runners' World (p. 39) and is currently hanging on my fridge. Scorpion handstand with one leg in lotus? Killer.
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