If you didn't come to party, then why did you come here?

Alrighty. Well, today is my [27th] birthday. I scheduled today off from work and all weekend, toyed with the idea of running 10k at the gym to celebrate. I kept going back and forth, debating on whether or not I should try (or if I should even workout on my birthday at all), but then I realized that if I didn't at least try, the day would a be a bit of a waste, as I really don't have anything else planned.

So, this morning, I slowly got out of bed and sloooowly got ready for the gym. Got to the gym. And then? I ran 10k.

Pretty sure my main source of fuel was the laughable amount of peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cookies Doug and I made (and ate) yesterday. But forget that, check out my times!

• 5 mile mark: 47:31
• 6 mile mark: 57:20
• 10k (6.25 mile) mark: 60:06

Someone was hauling ass! Not only did I set a new distance record, but I totally beat my previous 5 mile time by quite a bit! And I'm sure my speed during the first 2 miles was pretty fast, but I don't recall the exact times. Ah well.

I'm happy, but also kind of exhausted. I was worried my sides would start cramping up something fierce, but it was actually my glutes that started giving me trouble at about 4.5 miles. But I just ran through the pain. Luckily there were some cute little rabbits playing on the gym's front lawn to distract me most of the time.

Part of what helped my time was skipping my first walking break and just running straight through the first 2 miles. And during those breaks, I didn't walk for very long; in less than a minute, I went from 3.5 mph back up to 6 mph. Then my speed increments went like this:

• at .25 miles in, sped up to 6.2 mph
• at .5 miles, sped up to 6.5 mph
• at .75 miles, sped up to 7 mph
• at 1 mile, slowed down to recovery

Sometimes I ran at 7 mph for as long as I could, especially in the beginning, so that definitely helped my overall time. Towards the last 2.5 miles though, I really had to push hard.

Kind of a sadistic birthday gift to myself, but I'm glad I did it. I'm officially in the best shape of my life.