Race Pace

Yesterday I ran 3 miles at my 5k race pace-which came to a 9:28 pace. I know, I know-so many runners are looking at that and thinking "good grief-that's the best you can do?" Yes, that is indeed the best I can do. We can't all be Speedy Gonzalez, now can we? I happen to be very proud of that pace. It's been hard earned for me. I ran an easy 2 miler today, was supposed to be 4 but I needed to get home asap and decided to cut it short. I have a race Saturday, and decided that 2 miles 2 days before the race really wouldn't improve my race day much.

And why, you might ask, did I need to be home? Well, Hubby drove our little British car to his meeting this morning. It's an Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite (a Frogeye for those of you in Great Britain), and I wanted to be home in case the car broke down and he needed rescuing. It's something I'm used to, having played with British sports cars for years, really no big deal. In fact, now that everyone carries cell phones, it's made driving a somewhat unreliable car much easier. When we drove cars like the Bugeye years ago (when dinosaurs ruled the earth...) breaking down meant walking to a pay phone or an occupied home to borrow a phone. When I drove my MG to work every day, I used to pray not to break down on certain stretches of road because I knew I would really be stranded.

It's a whole different mindset from driving your average, reliable piece of American or Japanese iron. Even today when we're cruising around in an elderly British car, I find myself thinking, "Yeah, this would be a great place to break down.. plenty of room to get off the road, I know my cell phone works here...hey, I'm within 5 miles of my brother's house-I could run that if I needed to..."