SPEED DEMON!

I finally did a long run yesterday after almost two weeks off (well, I did go for a nice 1.5-miler in there somewhere just to say I did something...). It was my 7.1 mile hell run (which I love). It has a huge hill that goes on and on in the middle of it (I've complained about this and solicited sympathy from you countless times over the last few months, you know which one I'm talking about. The one that goes straight up at Via dei Pelegrini/Pilgrim Street...). My body felt great, but my lungs were whistling the entire time. I pushed myself, though, even through my wheezing, thinking "Heck, this run only takes me like 70 minutes. NO BIG DEAL" so every time I felt like slowing down, I would look at my watch and say, only 40 minutes left, only 30 left, etc. Because, really, after the marathon distance, 30 minutes really does seem short. It's all about perspective...

The good news is that the Paris Marathon helped me shave FOUR MINUTES off my 7.1 mile time. That's pretty significant since I had been the same for so many months. Wow! I guess long distance DOES make you faster for the short distances.

Woot!