Exciting News and a Music Complex

Workout: 5 miles, 10:16 average

Before I get into today's run, I received a bit of exciting news today - I got accepted into one of the schools I applied to! I wasn't expecting to hear from anywhere for another few weeks, so this was a complete shock. Isn't unexpected good news the best?! So much better than expected good news. And to think I almost deleted the email without reading it because I assumed it was spam... I'm too cautious to give any details (because OoOoOoObviously the admissions committee is going to stumble across this tiny corner of the internet and be outraged that I'm excited to have been accepted to their program), but the best part of the acceptance was the confidence boost it gave me. Going into this process, I refused to accept the idea that I might actually be a pretty decent candidate, and so convinced myself it was very possible I wouldn't be accepted anywhere. Turns out that's not the case! Sorry, don't mean to be a braggart, I'm just excited. And now to take me down a couple notches we can talk about what a mediocre runner I am!

I packed a LOT of running gear with me before class.

Outdoor clothes on the right

I was pretty sure I was going to end up running inside, but I didn't know whether my beloved ice rink slash track would be open since I hadn't been in a while, so I brought some back-up clothes for running outside. Given that it's' still pretty chilly 'round these parts, my "back-up clothes" took up a ridiculous amount of space. Like, all the space.

After class I confirmed that the ice rink was open and did an easy 5 miles. Or at least, pace easy, not mentally easy. In fact, mentally tough. I accidentally forgot my headphones, and although I'm cool running outside sans music, I have a very difficult time facing indoor running without it. My phone was loaded with music, of course, but I was too embarrassed to have the rink attendant (yeah, there was a rink attendant there today. I don't know why he was there either) know that I listen to crap top 40 pop while running.

For years and years I had a really bizarre complex about music and WOULD NOT let even my closest friends know what I listened to. Of course, my reluctance to share it with them made them try their hardest to figure it out and they obviously did (via many sneaky peaks at my iTunes library), but it wasn't until recently that I've even been able to acknowledge that I listen to some of the music I listen to. What I'm trying to say is, I ran around this ice rink 47 1/2 times without music. That kind of blew.

My legs felt great, though! I was very pleased with how well they have recovered from Saturday's 10 miles. I am beginning to think the whole shin pain debacle may be behind me although I'll pretend I don't so I don't jinx myself.

I have decided in the name of science (and, okay, the desire to take it easy) to run tomorrow's scheduled 3 miles at a 12:22 pace. You read that right. 12:22. That's what I believe to be Hansons' recommended easy easy run pace (not to be confused with plain old easy run pace) for my marathon goal time, which I guess is somewhere around 4:15?  Should I choose to use their plan, I imagine I will be spending a lot of time at this pace, in order to allow for the higher mileage. Better get used to it.

My Questions:

• My life got pretty exciting today - have you had any exciting life events occur today (or recently)?
• Ever been embarrassed by your music tastes?
• Ever run at a pace a good two+ minutes slower than your usual easy run pace? How'd it go?! I'm pumped.