Sometimes it's nice to just run.

I was supposed to run a 5 mile race today.  I didn't go because I didn't want to trash my ankles (which are having some technical difficulties) by running too fast, and I didn't want to spend 2 hours today driving back and forth from Wisconsin where the race was.  I would much rather spend those 2 hours farting around on the internet writing blog posts about winter running and Cathe Friedrich videos.

So what did I do instead of race?  Run 12 miles in my totally awesome new purple Nike Lunarglide 4s.

Did I mention they are purple, my lucky racing color?

I told myself this was going to be a long run in anticipation of my marathon training starting on Monday.  I was going to take it easy, enjoy the day (it started out sunny and not-so-frostbite-inducing), and just go for a 12 mile stroll.  That normally means I would be running anywhere between 11 or 12 minutes per mile, because I am not a speedster by any stretch of the imagination.

You can see by my splits below that I did not achieve that goal:

Must remember my training starts MONDAY, not today.

I blame all of this on my new Garmin 910XT watch and my blatant incompetence at operating it.

I'm used to my Forerunner 305, you see, where I have already customized the main screen to give me the time of day, total time, distance, and--most importantly--my pace per mile.  I am addicted to this number to the point where sometimes I get so wrapped up in it that I lose sight of the fact running should be about enjoyment, not about hitting some number that has become so irrationally important to me.  

So you can imagine my fright when I realized that the run screen I had customized the night before did not contain any field for my pace.  I actually stopped within the first tenth of a mile to fix it (discovering then that the 910XT has an "Autopause" feature where, if you stop, it automatically stops the timer.  Rock on, Garmin, rock on.  Like this feature.) but, what with it being freaking-ass cold outside, didn't want to freeze by big old butt right off by standing around for 5 minutes messing with the screen options.  So I just left it alone and started running.

What it would tell me was my pace after each lap.  But during the lap itself, I was unplugged from knowing my pace at every single moment.  Not glancing at my pace on my watch every 3 nanoseconds thus freed me up to do things like:

• Be aware of the strange dog up ahead in the road waiting for lunch me to run by
• Focus on my breathing, effort, and form
• Realize I totally screwed up the direction of today's run in regards to wind direction and fully pull the front of my balaclava up over my nose
• Learn how to breathe wearing a fully deployed balaclava
• Time my snot rockets, factoring in wind direction and speed
• Be more present in the running moment

It was nice for once to just...run.  I felt pretty comfortable the entire time (except for the last two miles when the wind picked up and changed direction so I was running into it.  Mother Nature, you bastard.)  And that's the first time on one of my long runs of that distance that I did not run any miles in the 11 minute range.

Maybe my watch was holding me back instead of helping me.  I'll still be wearing my watch on my runs (mainly because it was damn expensive and if I didn't wear it my husband, who purchased it for me, would start considering divorce); however, I don't think I'll be changing the settings on that new Garmin watch anytime soon.