why can't the marathon be at 6pm?

because that is my awesomest time to run.

today i had my last (always scare-quotes-worthy) 'speed work' run. the plan said i was supposed to run 1km at 8:03/mile pace 5 times, and run 400 metres in between each as 'rest' intervals.

can we talk about how speedwork *distances* are always listed in kilometres, even in the US, but then *speeds* are still all in miles? that doesn't help me and my watch work out what we're doing, ok? especially when thinking is hard due to running hard. this is not a time for math problems about trains leaving different stations headed for cleveland and what colour was the bear, etc.

so. you know i'm a little antsy about the speedwork after the racing injury incident near this blog's inception, right? ok, so i fudge. i almost always do one fewer interval than they say, but i always get the mileage about right. so today i thought: i'll do one mile to warm up. then i'll do .6 miles at something fast, and .3 miles to recover, 4 times. and then a mile to cooldown.

i left the house at 6pm, in a somewhat chilly but slightly humid sunshine. the sky was clear and the sun was dappling shit. anyway, i ran the first mile at 9:20 pace, and i thought: oooh, ok, that's not bad.

and then i started the intervals.
and I KILLED IT.

i didn't time each interval (i am not a garmin ninja) i just have the mile splits, but those miles with speed in them were all sub 8 minute miles. and for .3 of the miles i was not pushing! after the first one, i realized i was a little too close to sprinting, but the last three i was both pushing, and yet not going full-tilt. i talked to myself briefly to make sure i wasn't overestimating my lungs, and while i couldn't have held a conversation, i wasn't gasping. i finished my last interval at mile 4.3, then i backed off to about 9:30 miles, and ran home to make 6 miles total. when i looked at my watch at mile 5, i realized that had i been in a race, i could definitely have run a 50-minute 10k today; my PR is 49:30 on a course that i am SO SURE was short. as it was, i ran 6 miles in 52:30, and i would have happily run another 6 (though not at that speed, granted.)

anyway, the point is that i'm pretty much a champion... when i run at 6pm. now let's just explain to the good people of detroit that they need to move the marathon 11 hours later, and everything will be sweetness and sunshine.