Doing better than you thought

My run time last evening was an average of 12 minutes and 13 seconds per mile. Today, it was 11 minutes and 54 seconds.

The run today started out unusually fast, but I wasn’t out of breath. I could feel my knees coming up higher and my stride getting wider while my breath flowing steady in and out of my nose. I wasn’t sure if running second day in a row was helping. I actually thought, on the contrary, that it was better to run every other day to allow at least 48 hour for the muscle to heal and strengthen. I am not a workout doctor by no means.

I actually started the run at around 11 minutes and 10 seconds a mile. When my app told me my progress by the first mile mark, I was very pleasantly surprised. 11 minutes 10 seconds! That was my best mile time probably ever. I couldn’t believe I ran that long for 11 straight minutes. I kept a similar record for the second mile then got slower for third and fourth. I was not disappointed with that. I usually got too tired to keep up.

My knees started to hurt by the time the run was coming to an end. Thank goodness I was only a little bit away from home. The pain was worrisome (as any pain is to me), but I also took it as a sign that I pushed my body to a good enough amount.

I am quite pleased with the progress I made today. I certainly did not expect it. I believe it to be one of those wonders of the body without a verbal explanation I can’t provide myself.

It was good to notice how I was doing better than I thought.