I ran my favourite distance today- 10K. I LOVE 10Ks.

Usually.

I also love to be warm. I'd rather be too hot than too cold, except when running, when I'd like to be a touch cool at the beginning so that I'm nice and warm once I get going. But, the temps were in the low 40s this morning, and the wind was blowing somewhere around 20 mph. And I was wearing shorts.

The race director made a joke at the beginning about this not being a day for PRs, we all laughed, and I totally agreed-- and not just because of the weather. I haven't done much in the way of speedwork the past couple of months; in fact, I've slacked off on all my running the past couple of weeks. So, I was out for the fun of it. My PR was 1:03:17, and I was just hoping to get under 1:10:00 today.

I had to remind myself a few times during the race about how I love 10Ks, and how I love to run, and how much fun races are-- especially since people kept flying around me like I was going backwards. There was a sizeable hill between miles 5 & 6, and I got halfway up before deciding-- as ever-- that I could walk faster than I was running. So, I power-walked up (long steps, seriously swinging arms), then picked up running again.

My husband, who ran the 2-mile race today, was waiting for me just before the 6-mile mark and ran in with me. He told me that I was still under one hour. I thought he was exaggerating. I could see the 6-mile marker, so I started forwarding my iPod to the song I like to finish to (Scotland the Brave), since it is a few minutes long. I had to hit "next" several times before I got to it, so I thought I had loaded too many songs on my iPod.

We rounded a couple of corners before getting to the finish, and I saw the clock-- it said 1:02:30. I said, "Oh my gosh, you are KIDDING me!" before kicking it in and sprinting to the finish line as hard as I could go.

Result: New PR-- 1:02:54. Wow. The running club president said, "Imagine what you could do in good weather!"

Oh, I'm imagining, all right. We have another 10K in two months' time. That PR will not stand for long.