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What I Learned After Running 10 Miles Under 5:30 Pace
Coming into a 10-mile race today, I wasn’t expecting much. The course my running club runs is notoriously hilly. It’s not a course known for running that fast.
It was supposed to be a fitness barometer to see where I stood for my real, long-term running goal in a month: running 72 minutes in a half marathon.
For those of you who don’t know, 72 minutes in a half marathon is a little under 5:30 mile pace for 13.1 miles. For some people, that’s not that fast. But for me, that’s very fast. As it stands right now, my half marathon personal record was in late 2017, when after three hours of sleep and a hangover, I ran 76 minutes and 5 seconds.
I knew I could do better, but I was very proud of that effort. I ran close to that time in my first marathon, and if I’m hitting my half marathon personal best midway through the marathon, then I’m clearly capable of better.
But this 10 mile race broke my expectations and showed I was in better shape than I even thought. I ran 54:58, which is 5:29 mile pace for 10 miles.
