Yes I will do it!

Recent blogflections here have shared my journey of being a retired runner who has come out of retirement with a goal by the end of this summer of running a 6:30 mile on an outdoor track.

I began my journey seven weeks ago on May 17th with a slow one mile run at about a 10 minute mile pace at a local park.  Training one to two days a week, primarily on the treadmill, last evening I had my first timed trial on an outdoor track when I ran the 1,500 meter distance at a local all comers track meet at the high school I attended 40 years ago.

How did I do?  I'm glad you asked.

I crossed the 1,500 meter finish line in 6:32 which is about a 6:57 mile.  My split times were 1:30 for 400 meters, 3:15 for 800 meters, 5:15 for 1,200 meters and 6:32 for 1,500 meters.

I went out too fast for the first lap, struggled for the third lap and ran about the correct pace for the second lap and final 300 meters of the race.  This proved to me and anyone else interested that despite the lack of reality of treadmill training, I'm capable of matching my best treadmill performance on the outdoor track.  One week earlier I ran one mile on the treadmill in 7:00 in my best treadmill performance since coming out of retirement.

The last day of summer this year is Friday, September 21st or 11 weeks to this day so I've got plenty of training time left to chase my end of summer goal.  Right now I'm feeling pretty good about last evening's effort and my training thus far.  Will I achieve my goal?  Yes, I will do it!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum