Class 2

When you say you're a runner, one of the first questions you hear is, "What's your mile time?" Now you know.

I mentioned trying to go a minute faster than Tuesday's pace, but don't take that goal too seriously. The greater value of today's result was telling you how to adjust your pace next week. If your gap between those two runs was less than 1:00, consider slowing down a bit on Tuesday.

Tuesday's distance will step up slightly to 2.25 miles. Meet at the now-standard spot near the Rec Center's east entrance (off turf fields).

TODAY'S ONE-MILE TEST

(with comparison to mile pace from Tuesday; target was to go faster)

Kamille -- 10:57 (-44 sec.)

Leily -- 8:25 (-31 sec.)

Bryce -- 8:18 (-13 sec.)

Alex D. -- 8:10 (-22 sec.)

Amina -- 10:18 (-37 sec.)

Michael -- 6:15 (-49 sec.)

Tara -- 7:47 (-1:11) day's 3rd most improved

Tanner -- 9:09 (-49 sec.)

Alex M. -- 7:50 (-1:30) day's most improved, earning extra credit

Jessica -- 10:30 (-23 sec.)

Miranda -- 11:25 (-7 sec.)

Becky -- 9:03 (-53 sec.)

Sugam -- 9:41 (-1:14) day's 2nd most improved

Anthony -- 7:24 (-58 sec.) after fast 2-mile with Army this morning

Max -- 6:28 (-58 sec.)

LESSON 2: WINNING WAYS

A great beauty of running is that it gives everyone a chance to win. Winning isn’t automatic; you still have to work for success and risk failure. But unlike other sports there’s no need to beat an arbitrary standard (such as “par” or an opponent’s score). You measure yourself against your personal records. To the runner, a “PR” does not stand for public relations or an island in the Caribbean. It means “personal record,” and this PR may represent the greatest advance in the history of this sport. The invention of the digital stopwatch worn on the wrist turned everyone into a potential winner. Here was a personal and yet objective way to measure success and progress. It didn’t depend upon beating anyone, but only upon how the new numbers on the watch compared with the old ones.