Today, I ran the 12k's of Christmas and had a really good time. I planned to do it as an 8:30-8:45 pace tempo run. This has been an especially difficult week so I went into it not expecting too much. Katie came and ran it with me so I was glad for the company.

At the starting line, I got in between the 8:00 and 9:00 pace signs and tried to avoid the HUGE guy in front of me who was stretching without regard to anyone else around him. Then the gun went off and so did we. It climbs right away and the first mile was 8:41. Then Katie took off and I chased her for the next mile, that turned out to be 7:12. I pointed out to Katie that it was unacceptable although we did agree that if I still had the breath to bitch while running, it was probably okay. The third mile climbed again and I stopped for a sip of Gatorade and finished that in 8:06. More climbing for an 8:16 mile 4. Miles 5 and 6 picked up again with some descending and were a 7:22, 7:46 respectively. We caught up with a guy who was doing it for the first time hoping to make it under 60 minutes and that was the point when I learned that was Katie's top secret goal too.

So after a tiny bit of protest, I decided to go for it too and took off running a nice flat mile 7. I put it in my mind that if I could finish under 60, then everything, everyone would okay. That last mile was a 6:56 and I pushed it hard to the finish line. I am happy with the results and yes, it will all be okay.

12k Run @ 00:57:42
7:44 Pace

Oh, and something odd happened in the recovery area. This young guy started talking with me and said I was a really consistent runner. He said he chased me in this race -- and had also done the same at the Seattle Half. That was pretty wild.