I'm sure I've written about this before, but when I was around 8 I asked my dad for a pair of Nike Air Max Triax running shoes for Christmas. That was his brand of choice and I guess I thought they might make me like running as much as he did. Boy was I wrong. Running sucked in spite of my fancy shoes.
When I was 12 a treadmill dropped into my life and I began to develop a love/hate relationship with running. To this day, I'm impressed remembering the different treadmill runs I concocted for myself, which I now know were rudimentary interval workouts. During those early years, I started to think of a 10 minute mile average pace as a decent baseline.
I consider 2008 to be the year I decided to start running as an adult, at 21 in my last semester of college. I signed up for a 10k back in the days of folding up a check in a registration form and mailing it away to the race directors. It shouldn't have surprised me that after a few years of no running and eating like a college student, 10 minute miles were way out of my reach. And yet, it did surprise and disappoint me!
But hey, I'd already mailed off my $20 (honestly it was probably less). I accepted the harsh reality of grinding out 5 miles on the treadmill at a 12 minute per mile pace. I did this at Anita Newman Hall, after I finished work at the dining hall around 10pm. It sucked, but I did it for days, weeks, months, because what choice did I have? $20 was on the line.
Somewhere in that mess of late night, post dining hall turtle miles, 12 minutes per mile became easy. I graduated myself to 10 minute miles and never looked back...Until I did. Two-ish years ago, 10 minute miles had become hard again! Back to square one.
ALL THIS to say that I ran some effortless 10 minute miles on the treadmill today, and 10 minute miles haven't felt that good since 2008. Then and now, it was less about achieving a certain pace and more about rediscovering what it's like when running feels good.
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