I think I know how Roger Bannister felt back in 1954 when he broke the world record for one mile and did it in under 4 minutes for the first time. He strongly believed that running a sub 4-minute mile was possible and that the only thing preventing great runners from accomplishing it was a psychological change. Whenever I think of running more than 3 miles, my mind automatically goes to 11-12 minute mile pace. For me, right now, sub 10-minute miles for any distance is impossible...or at least it was.
Since there was about 50" of slushy snow when I woke up yesterday morning (or at least 2.5") I decided to run after work. Dave normally does his short runs on a treadmill, but decided to join me for the 8 miles. We decided we were going to push it pretty hard, but just as we got set to go Dave got a call that the walks at the church needed to be shoveled and salted. So, we spent an hour or so shoveling and salting before our run. The service must have gained us some extra blessing because I felt really good the entire 8 miles. We started off a little slowly, but ran about 4 of the miles around a 9 minute 24 second pace and finished the entire 8 miles in 79 minutes 50 seconds. I didn't beat it by much, but it felt good to break that mental barrier. Now, if I can only figure a way to run two and a half times faster I can break the 4-minute mile too. Maybe I'll try 9 minutes first.
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