Papa John's 10 Miler

Yesterday I completed the Papa John's 10 Miler, which was the final leg in Louisville's Triple Crown of Running. This was a race I had never run before, so I had no idea what to expect. In 2008 and 2009, I had some overuse injuries that prevented me from competing. My hypothesis that increasing my mileage too much week to week and not enough strength training was causing these injuries has proved to be correct. By training smarter and being more organized, I've definitely reaped the results.

Lizzie and I ran the race together, which took us down a mostly flat road for 3 miles, into Iroquois park and around hills for 3 miles, back down the original flat street for 3 miles, and then the final mile up a bridge and into Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. We finished the race in 1 hour and 36 minutes, which is an average of 9:36 per mile. I hope Lizzie will forgive me because we originally planned to run the race at an easy pace and treat it as a training run, but that never works for me. During the entire Triple Crown, I found myself really pushing myself and it felt great! Despite our good time, I know I could have run faster, but I was afraid of hitting a wall. If I maintain the 9:36 pace for the mini marathon, I will be satisfied with that. Today I am NOT sore!

Despite the hard work I've put into my training and the larger, healthier variety of foods I've put into my diet, lately I have not felt my fittest. I'm eating too quickly and eating too many sweets to justify them all. Overall, I need to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. If I cut back on the sweets too, I won't crave them as often. I know that life is too short to worry about this stuff all the time, but the guilt that follows after eating sweets or overeating is too much to take. This week I will make a conscious effort to eat slowly and not just eat my food but taste it too!