BTN ...or so I thought

I was just not feeling the run this morning and knew it was going to be a tough start. Jim and Chuck pulled ahead almost from the start and I know I slowed down.

The first mile is usually my most difficult, more so on this course since it is all uphill the first mile. I was still shocked and dismayed to see my Garmin flast at me 13:59 WTH? A fourteen minute mile??!! I knew I was slower than normal but I didn't think I was going that much slower.

The second mile was still over 13 minutes and it was really tempting to just throw my hands up in disgust, chalk this up as a BTN (better than nothing) run and go back to my truck. I didn't do that, I didn't drop to a walk. I knew that this run was going to be a mental challenge more than a physical one so I kept on going.

Samantha had said she would meet us out there to run but she wasn't there so once more I was running solo. There was a lot of military traffic on the roads this morning so I had nominal company. As I was approaching the 3.5 mile mark, Chuck and Jim were on the way back. They gave me thumbs up, shouted encouragement and kept going. We were doing 8 miles so I didn't have that much longer to go.

It took at least 20 minutes, so it seemed, for me to run that half mile to the turn around point. I turned around and started back. As I got near the 3.5 mile mark, I could see a runner coming towards me. It was Samantha! She took a wrong turn getting there but set out anyway. She passed the guys so she knew I was out there still. It was great to have her out on the course with me.

When I got back to starting point, the Garmin said 8.18 miles, 1:43:03 I have no idea how I managed to get an additional .18 miles on an out and back but whatever.

Now, when I downloaded the info from the Garmin, it gets even stranger. It says I ran 8.5 miles total. Remember the shocking (to me) almost 14 minute mile? Well, the reason is that it didn't actually mark it at a mile, it was 1.24 miles! My pace was faster than I thought it would be. I was not nearly as slow as I thought I was, I actually ran faster than I thought.

1.24 miles - 13:59 (11.17)
2.28 miles - 27:35 (13.06)
3.28 miles - 40:22 (12.43)
4.28 miles - 53:03 (12.38)
5.29 miles - 1:05:14 (12.08)
6.29 miles - 1:17:48 (12.32)
7.29 miles - 1:29:59 (12.08)
8.29 miles - 1:41:25 (11.26)
8.5 miles - 1:44:03 (7:55)

Lesson learned out of all this? Stop looking at the stinking Garmin! I was really good about not looking and have recently started peeking. After the second horrifying mile today, I actually switched the Garmin where I could not see any of the info. I was getting depressed about the info I was seeing, despite the fact that I didn't feel I was doing as badly as it was showing me I was.