healthy competition

yesterday's distance: 9 miles

on the iPod: "don't look back in anger" -- oasis

Mrs. Pugh and I got in a relatively heavy distance yesterday for the first time since the marathon and it felt great. The wind was whipping hard as we headed out on the Skull Creek Trail through the heart of Fayetteville. Our pace was markedly faster than any of our training runs over the summer, but I think we were both gunning a little bit to push each other and look like badasses. Neither of us would cop to that, but i'm pretty sure that's what was going on.

AP teachers can be competitive on occasion. We tend to be a sneaky lot, presenting as if we're in it solely for the good of the students. Which we are. But deep down, in places of our psyche that go unexposed, we want to turn in the best scores possible. Distance running, in many ways, is not unlike the AP exams. We all want to be the best. But i'd never admit it.

As we're expecting three relatively large hills in the upcoming Fayetteville Half Marathon, we didn't shy away from hitting some good ones. In fact, we went up and back one of the bigger ones that should show up on the course. My attitude toward hills is almost always to attack them with an increased pace. The downhill, for me, is the real pain. So for every second I make up with an swifter uphill climb, I almost always lose on the decent. Such is life, I suppose. But the hill work went well and I feel better having prepped for what I know is coming.

This weekend holds an eleven miler in preparation for the half on December 12th. Most training plans will say to taper substantially the weekend before a half marathon, but Mrs. Pugh made an executive decision that we are still woefully unprepared and need to slog forward toward our goal. I fully support this decision, though i'm a bit suspicious of her motives, knowing that she hasn't yet actually registered for the race. I told her that if she pulls a stunt and bails at the last minute I fully expect to see her cheering me on at miles 5, 7, 10, 12, and the finish line.

If she hasn't registered by the end of the week, I might have to resort to guilt and shame tactics. Stay tuned...