Chasing Pavements: Something's Fishy...

August 6th: 6.92 miles ran, 1 hour 13 minutes 45 seconds, 10:40 minutes/mile

August 10th: 9.95 miles ran, 1 hour 56 minutes 54 seconds, 11:45 minutes/mile

Power Song for this Week: "I've Got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. Mazel tov!

I think I'm the first person in the history of marathon training to get slower as I progress through my training schedule. According to a previous post, I ran 10.02 miles on 7/12 at a pace of 10:40 minutes per mile. One month, and 51 miles, later I ran 9.95 miles at a pace of 11:45 minutes per mile. What could have caused me to get so much slower in just a month's time? Possible explanations:

1. I turned 25. My body is not the finely tuned instrument of my younger years.

It's all downhill after 24.

2. Sammy Wanjiru (2008 Olympic Marathon gold medalist from Kenya who is making his American debut at the Chicago Marathon) is threatened by the risk I pose to break his world record of 2:05:10 and is somehow conspiring against me.

Sammy's always trying to steal my thunder. Doesn't he know this is also MY American marathon debut?

Or 3. My cheap Nike+ system isn't very accurate. Which would also explain how I could run 5.05 miles to get to the beach, but only 4.9 miles to get back. Last time I checked, "there" and "back" are the same distance...unless you ask your grandpa, who will insist that you can walk uphill to school both ways.

If I were a rockstar marathoner like Sammy (or Oprah) I would invest in one of those fancy watches that is far more precise than the chip in my shoe that feeds information to my iPod. But who really wants to spend $300 on a watch when there are much more exciting things to buy? Such as:

-300 McChicken sandwiches (not including taxes or hospital bills resulting from inevitable heart attack)

-2 or 3 Ed Hardy t-shirts (depending on style and level of tool-ness)

-This uber creepy doll on ebay