6.20 miles in 50:19

connect.garmin.com/activity/112550338

remember that skinny kid i beat last year in the run for missions 10K? no, not Kevin J. my high school self. well, he's crying today. laying on the floor sobbing becaue he got beat by almost four minutes! my 50:16 today is the fastest 10K i've ever run! take that, skinny kid!

so how did i do it? hal's plan called for a 45-minute tempo run. i knew from last week about how hard i could push it for 40 minutes, so i just chose that pace and ran east. i wanted to see if i could get out of town and run a little dirt since there will be some tall weeds and dirt in the run for missions half marathon next month.

i made it to the edge to town and hit the dirt in less than 15 minutes. i ran through the dark shadows, past farm houses. the only sound was the crunch of my feet tapping out a steady beat. there's nothing better!

when i hit west river road, i turned south and ran across highway 54 to fifth street which took me back into town. i ran fifth street on the bricks all the way past main street and then turned north to see if i could figure out where my new friends troy and Amy S live. i think i ran past them on oak. good morning, everyone!

from there i ran back up to school and headed for home. i hit the 45-minute mark just after i past the house. i'd covered 5.52 miles. i just kept going. i'd figured out quite some time before this that a sub-50 minute 10K might be possible and i wasn't going to stop just because hal said 45 when something like that was within reach.

i did a bunch of circling around until, just a block or so south of my house, near Dan M.'s, i clicked over to 6.20 miles. i stopped my garmin. missed a sub-50 by 20 seconds. i'm not complaining. i'm super pumped about my new PR! it's going down in the next few weeks! the scariest part of this whole thing...i think i could've run for another 45 minutes at this pace. i felt great! look out haviland!