CONFIRMED! Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus

My long run plan this weekend was 11 miles.  Hopefully anything under a 9:00 minute pace per mile.  After Thursday, I was thinking that it was an attainable goal.  Chris and I planned to run at the Upper Tampa Bay Trail again, and Ben wanted to join us as well.  Here are my two "BA" running partners after the Xterra Wildhorse runs (Half Marathon for Ben and 10k for Chris):

Clearly, WAY cooler than me.  

Friday night, we had Ben's company's Christmas Party at Splitsville.  We had a blast, it's been a while since I've bowled - clearly evident by my amazing score of 57.  Dinner was included, but that meant chicken tenders, pizza, quesadillas, and mini chicken sandwiches.  Sigh.  I looked at Ben and wondered what he was going to eat since he was also running 11 miles the next day.  But Ben is a freak of nature.  He can eat chicken fingers and pizza for dinner, wash it down with a beer, and STILL have a good run.  Not. Fair. 

Needless to say, I was a little nervous about my lack of nutrition for my run.  As we started out Ben and Chris were doing most of the talking.  They started talking about their trucks.  Yawn.  And then they started talking about stereos and speakers for their trucks.  Double yawn.  And then they started talking about beer.  OMG!  Calgon take me away!  Then I got to thinking, "Man, I miss running with my girls!"  So I tuned out and starting thinking about all the things we would talk about when we were training for Space Coast - wine, food, work, music, family, friends...  

I think Ben and Chris finally realized that I wasn't even paying attention to their conversation and they started asking me questions.  My mind was already wandering about writing this blog about how different it is to run with men versus women.  Then I realized how lucky I was to have such awesome running friends (male and female) with such different backgrounds, opinions, and views on life.  (Which always makes for super-interesting running conversations!)  Quickly followed by the realization that my runs with the boys and the girls are a far cry from each other!

Anyway, that really only lasted a mile or two but I found it really amusing.  I must say that the weather on Saturday was very nice, and there were a lot of people using the trail.  The most challenging part of the Upper Tampa Bay Trail is the overpass on Citrus Park Drive (near the old Circuit City), the climb is pretty sizable.  However, the downhill is also pretty nice.  The problem is that darn hill always comes right around the last mile.  I'm proud to say that I achieved my goal of under 9:00 minute miles for 11 miles (WOO!)  Here are the splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:38:18.0	11.00	8:56
1	9:38.1	1.00	9:38
2	9:13.3	1.00	9:13
3	9:03.8	1.00	9:04
4	9:03.5	1.00	9:03
5	8:50.4	1.00	8:50
6	8:55.4	1.00	8:55
7	8:42.4	1.00	8:42
8	8:44.1	1.00	8:44
9	8:48.7	1.00	8:49
10	8:33.1	1.00	8:33
11	8:44.3	1.00	8:44
12	:01.0	0.00	7:51

I calculated that this pace would translate in to a 1:57 half marathon (what?!?).  Thinking about doing an actual "time trial" before the big day to practice my fueling and race plan for the big day.  Here are the races planned out for the next few months:

1. January 8th, Kiwanis Adventure Run (5 miler, off road)
2. January 28th, Kumquat Festival Race (5k, road).  This race is always really fun, but pretty hilly.  
3. January 29th, Florida Challenge (Half Marathon, off road).  Ben is running this one and I'm volunteering.
4. February 12th, Rock n' Roll - St. Pete (Half marathon, road)
5. March 3-4, Gasparilla (Either 15k or 5+3k, road).  Wouldn't miss this one for anything!