Way back in the first couple of years of running, when I was to carving out regular chunks of time from wife-ing and mothering to run, I made M-word noises. I had a pretty consistent average 10k time of 1:08ish, but it was quite a lifestyle challenge to consistently commit the training time it would take to improve.
In the interest of keeping a reasonable balance in my life (and his, I believe), my husband challenged me to run a sub-1hour 10k before saying the marathon M* word. I took him up on it. After all, if I couldn’t put in the time to whittle down my 10k time, how was I going to manage the time to train for an M*?
Whittling this time down has been harder than I thought, but training this year has been much more regular and I’m so-o-o close.
1:09:53 May 2003 Mother’s Day 10k (1 hill)
1:09:14 March 2004 Frozen Nose & Toes 10k (did 10.5 – got lost)
1:04:24 May 2004 Mother’s Day 10k (1 hill)
1:01:54 June 2004 Run Walk & Roll 10k (flat, out & back)
1:00:28 Sept 2004 Brook’s Women’s 10k (flat, double loop)
That last PR was SO-O-O hard. I even had a pace angel come up from behind at 8.5 km and egg me on through the last 1.5 km.
For the record, I’m 38 until the end of next summer, but why wait until the last minute?
It would be really nice to win one more PR for the year.
All Downhill From Here 
Nice whittling! You young’uns can do that sort of thing you know. 😉 I know you’ll be putting another notch in the list soon. Sub 1:00? Oh yes, it is definately in your near future. 🙂
By: Jon in Michigan on November 19, 2004
at 11:27 am
WOW! That’s really great AND FAST!
Way to go….when are you planning your M?
By: Pamalamadingdong on November 19, 2004
at 11:53 am
I sure hope that you get it. What sort of speedwork have you been doing to get the times down?
By: Richard on November 19, 2004
at 2:13 pm
Hey you are doing great! I’m just starting to think about my first 10K. Good training!!
By: susan on November 28, 2004
at 8:15 pm