Run 25 of 67: 5 miles tempo

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 57:00
Course: Loop from YWCA

Wow, that was hard. My first tempo run was described as a 1 mile warmup, 3 mile tempo run at 11:55, and a 1 mile cooldown. The mile warmup went by very quickly, and then I started the 3 mile tempo run. I think I did pretty well, despite having forgotten to bring a watch. For the first half, I concentrated on leaning forward a bit and kicking my heel to the back a little more quickly. I got a bit of a cramp near the mile mark, but figured that since my breathing and legs were fine, I would be able to gut it out at least until the turnaround point. I definitely lost steam in the second half, and had to walk twice to get back to the starting point.

I surprised myself with my ability to run at a significantly faster pace than my easy runs, for an extended period of time. I'm getting used to the feeling of running being uncomfortable without being exhausting, if that makes any sense.