10-mile shape forever

For the rest of my life, I want to be able to wake up in the morning, eat a banana and a cup of coffee, and go out and run 10 miles.

The pace doesn't matter, and obviously if I'm sick or injured I can have a pass for the day. But in general, I want to always be in good enough shape to run 10 miles.

So I haven't run 10 miles since Nov. 26 - a month now! - and that makes sense, given my recovery from the marathoning season. But when my friend Kathy said she had 10 on the schedule for Christmas Eve (she's training for the Arizona Rock N Roll half marathon - her first half outside of a half-Ironman!), I was all about going with her.

Yeah, it's not really part of my base training; the distance is too long and Kathy's pace - about a 10-minute mile - is faster than my middle-of-zone-2 goal - but close enough. And like I said, I need to be able to always run 10 miles.

Danielle came too, and we had a fabulous negative-split run out and back on the East Lake Sammamish Trail. Before the inevitable rain, too (that started once I was safe and warm in my house).

My average HR was 158, so slightly out of zone 2 for me, but I felt great the entire time. (I actually felt lower than that - I think my HRM is off. Needs new batteries.) And while running 10 miles didn't quite give me a free pass for eating what I wanted the rest of yesterday and today, it did remind me that even when I'm feeling kinda fat and yucky and have been eating things that I shouldn't, I'm still an athlete and a runner and a little discipline on the eating will get me to where I need to be.

And on that note, I'm doing the Fat Cyclist bodyfat challenge, so I have to lose some weight. For real this time. If I don't, I owe the Fat Cyclist a copy of season 6 of 24 (not out yet - when it comes out, I will have to ship it to him). And sure, it's honor system, but it might be a good little stimulus to remind me where I need to be in 2007.