Broke the 8:00/mile seal

Tokyo, Week 8, Day 3; 6 miles, 7:50/mile.

Last night I went running around 11:30 or so, so I got back at like midnight. This morning, I had time to run in the morning and, knowing I'd likely have work at night, I went out for today's 6-miler less than 9 hours after yesterday's run. Given the short recovery time and the three additional miles, I was aiming to match my 8:12/mile pace from last night.

I went out at my typical "fast Wednesday" standard; I ran fast enough so that I could not speak comfortably. I overall felt pretty good throughout the run. Besides the required stops (i.e., traffic lights at big streets), I walked for about 10 seconds at the half-way point, and that was it (although, to be fair, I was kind of hoping for red lights during the last half of the workout). The third quarter of the run was, as is typical, the toughest, and I felt like I was going very slow. I wouldn't have been surprised with a 9:00/mile pace, but I'm pretty sure I was going faster than that, given my ultimate average pace.

Given how I felt in the third quarter of the run, I wouldn't have been surprised with not having met my goal of at least matching yesterday's pace of 8:12/mile, so I was glad to see a final pace of 7:50/mile.