And sometimes it gets so good....

I have often equated running to golf.

I haven't played a lot of golf and I don't play well, but when I do, I usually end up having that one shot that is so spectacular that it ensures I'll be out again when asked

The same goes for running.

Not every run is great:

Some really suck!
  
But this past week, I was able to kick through three awesome runs which allowed me to build up my confidence and set my mind once again to the goal for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon.

The first was a 5am Wednesday treadmill run at my gym. I decided to go old school, or running room style and run 10 minutes warm up, 20 minutes tempo and the rest easy. I struggled just a bit with the 20 minutes of tempo at 4:46/km pace (7:41/mi) but after about 4 minutes at easy pace, and just reaching 4 out of the 5 total miles I wanted to run that day (8km total), I couldn't take the easy any longer so I kicked another half mile at tempo pace. I felt strong and proud!

The next day was supposed to be a rest day with my run on Friday AM, however I had planned an early coffee date with my former colleague instead so I decided to go for a rare evening run. This was really nice as I got to see the route I normally run in complete darkness. I was having a really pleasant run, just easing along but decided to try to kick out the 9th and final KM as fast as possible. I was rewarded with a 4:22 KM (7:03/mi). I felt amazing!

Finally, on Saturday, Sam and I got together for our long run which was supposed to be 20km with 10k at half race pace (for the target half - STWM as mentioned above). We decided to run the Milton Half Marathon route again and did 3km warm up, 10km at half race pace (aiming for 5:04/km or 8:10/mi) at the slowest and the rest easy. It was difficult to continue to keep up the pace and I would likely have split the 10k if I had been on my own, but with Sam there, I persevered and managed to run the 10k in 51:03 total. Not bad at all and a true confidence booster for this coming weekend when I'll run the Milton Half Marathon and for October 20, which is the A-goal race.

GUILTY!!!