3-21-08 Run (28 of 92)

Was supposed to run for 19 minutes today, but we're also trying to get Steph ready for her first race in about 2 weeks. She's set a goal of 27 minutes for the race in Beulah 5K (which I'm sure is completely do-able), and she wanted to do a 'test run' with me and the GPS, so instead of a 19 minute run, we ran a 5K at race pace. The GPS has a virtual training partner feature that lets me set a time/distance pace, but I still have a hard time balance the virtual runner's pace, and mine and Steph's pace. I tend to bolt out too quickly to get a lead on the GPS runner, and then I can try to stay ahead of him. At one point we were 400 ft ahead of the virtual runner, but it was killing Steph. We still managed to finish the 5K in 27 minutes (even with some gnarly hills). It would have probably been easier on Steph if I'd been able to pace a little slower early on in the run. She said it was pretty rough. We only beat the virtual runner by about 10 feet. The 400 foot lead eroded pretty quickly during the last mile. But we did it. She's convinced she'll be able to do it on race day now.