Left the ball and chain at home and broke the 8:00 pace for the first time this morning! (Read 1202 times)

My wife and I are running a mini-marathon on Thanksgiving Day, so today was supposed to be an easy 3 mile run and then a rest tomorrow according to my training plan. I started out today's easy run without my usual training partner, my wife, who is just a little slower than me. She decided to sleep in, so i thought, since she is not with me, I will try to push the pace just a little. We almost always run together and we usually run at about an 8:40 pace. Anyway, when I got back to the house and calculated my pace, I had run 3 miles at a 7:47 pace. What's surprising is that I didn't feel like I pushed it that hard. This is the first time since high school that I have been sub 8:00 on a run longer than 1 mile. Now I'm thinking maybe I should leave the old hag at home more often! Just kidding- we have a great marriage and love to run together, but seriously brings mean new meaning to the term "Ball and Chain" Ha!

Congrats!! It's always good to break a barrier like that.... Hey, if it's any consolation to your wife, she'll probably find that she runs faster without you, too!!

Ha Ha! I was thinking the same thing, that maybe we're slowing each other down! But actually, she doesn't really have much of a desire to be fast, so she doesn't really ever push the pace.

It's great that you have someone keeping the pace slow. You can run with her for your easy runs and add a couple of faster runs a week.

It's just a half marathon. Sorry.

The half marathon in Indy in May is actually called a mini-marathon too

The half marathon in Indy in May is actually called a mini-marathon too

Yeah, the Louisville spring (Kentucky Derby Festival) is too. The mini existed long before the marathon, so I always get a disproportionate number of "The mini of the full marathon?" questions, and also assumptions that by "marathon" you mean the "mini." Interestingly enough, I've never run anything but the "mini" in Louisville, despite 4 marathons in the last 55 weeks.

Almost every non-runner I've told about running my HM thinks I've done a full marathon! Then I have to say, "No, it's JUST a half-marathon," which makes me feel wimpy, lol.

Never ever feel badly about "just" running a half. And you don't have to say "just". Q: Is the mini a marathon? Are you running a marathon? A: Nope, I'm running a half. Be proud of your half! Whoever decided that the event should be called "half marathon" ought to get a pie in the face. The half marathon is just about the only running event that is described in the official name as "part of something bigger". Half ironman is kind of the same thing, though they've taken to calling those "ironman 70.3", which is kind of goofy but also kind of cool. You know exactly how far it is. (yes, I do realize that this is not why they came up with the 70.3 moniker.)