Success!

Now, that's what I call a run. 10k in 54:44, cutting my best 10k time prior to the start of this week by about 4 minutes. I told myself I was going to run it as a "race" and that's exactly what I did. OK, it's a treadmill time so flat and not affected by wind or rain or other runners, but that's a big improvement. I remember being ecstatic the first time I got under 60 minutes, so to get under 55 is a real achievement for me.

The difference in my concentration was amazing. I can really tell the difference between a slow pace and a race pace after that. When I'm running "slow" I don't notice the running as much as I notice the things around me. I settle into a rhythm and I enjoy the ride. At today's pace I really have to focus on running rather than on my surroundings, and I block so much of the external stuff out. I'd never noticed that before, maybe because I haven't been fast enough for long enough to hit that stage, but I really did notice it today. I want to remember how that feels so that I can get into that state of mind again in the future.

This week's mileage is on the low end of what I normally do, about 22 miles compared to 26 and 28 over the past couple of weeks. There hasn't been a long run in there, and there won't be over the weekend. But overall I'm on target for the half marathon, and I'm surprised at how simple it has been. The training programme has really speeded me up generally (leading to that huge 10k improvement) as well as improving my endurance, and the distance doesn't daunt me as much as it did to start with. With two weeks to go I'm very confident that I'll be able to do it, and that I might even be able to do it faster than I was aiming for. I'm surprised at how quickly I've improved, and who relaxed I am about the prospect of running the half.