The Measuring Stick

Melissa dropped Chris Bain and I off at Sycamore Landing (photo) and we warmed up on our way to the towpath. We started our watches at mile marker 27 and continued south towards Old Anglers Inn. The goal was to run 15 at marathon pace and hopefully feel good (not taxed) doing so. We hit a 6:12 first mile and then began to get into the zone. The mile markers are not spot on so that threw us off a bit. We thought we were slow, but we were actually a bit fast and then we picked it up a notch. Chris diligently figured out our spilts (below) but our pace was 5:59 for the first 5, 5:57 for the second and 5:46 pace for the final 5. Or 5:51 pace for the last 10 miles. We hit 1/2 marathon in approximately 1:17:30 and 15 in 1:27:50...or 5:54 pace. I finally can nail down a pace for Boston based on this workout. The mile marker "fiasco" would not have occured during the real race, so I won't think about hitting 5:46 pace so early. We both felt good but agreed we'd feel 100% better when we tapered. I ran my highest week of mileage this week (92) so I am happy with the effort. I am sure Chris is in the midst of taxed legs too, so all and all, this was a good sign. We cooled down a couple miles and call the day 18.5 then drank Stella Artois in parking lot while we waited for Melissa to finish up. A quality run!


Actual "Mile" Distance / Mile Pace

0.98 06:12
1.00 05:57
0.97 05:49
0.97 05:58
0.95 06:00
1.02 06:06
0.95 05:56
1.01 05:59
0.98 05:54
1.07 05:50
1.00 05:50
1.01 05:45
1.02 05:45
1.11 05:41
0.84 05:49