9:32 pace average?

My darling friend Kathy is completely obsessed with her running pace, and completely certain that she's way slower than she is.

So Kathy, Sarah and I went out yesterday morning on a 6-mile loop. Later, when Kathy mapped it online, it was at least 6.1 miles (I always think that when I map something online, I err on the side of being low - it definitely works that way when I map bike routes).

We were running for 58:11 - which works out to a 9:32 pace average.

During the run, I felt like I was working harder than I really wanted to, but I wasn't sure if that was laziness at 5:45 a.m. or tiredness from the Ironman still. In any case, I felt like the pace was fast.

When I start breathing heavily, my lungs and chest feel all tight and kind of achy. I figure that's the remains of the Ironman. Otherwise, my muscles feel back to normal.

But you know, I believe we averaged a 9:32. And I feel really, really good about that. Because if that's what I can two weeks outside of Ironman, imagining that next Spring I could focus on getting faster and qualifying for the Boston marathon isn't really out of the question, is it?

To qualify for Boston at my age, I need to do a 3:40 marathon - which averages out to an 8:23 pace.

That's a huge goal. Possibly bigger than the Ironman. And I won't even start for months, until I drop some more weight (holding steady at 141 this week, yay!).

But maybe. Wouldn't that be amazing?