March Madness

Saying Dad was a sports fan is a gross understatement. Daddy loved to watch football and baseball and play golf but he didn't discriminate against other sports too. He was a hard core Eagles and Phillies fan. He passed at least an interest in sports onto me. Every year when March Madness rolled around, I would fill out a bracket haphazardly and convince Dad to pay my way into his office pool. I really didn't pay much attention to who was the best, and I usually picked my teams based on which name I liked better--with one exception. Every single year, for as long as I can remember, I would have Duke winning it all. Once when I was little Duke won, and ever since I have always picked them as the champs regardless of their standing.

This year I got an email about Dad's office pool, but it just wasn't the same without Dad (and his buy in), so I didn't fill out a bracket. Of course, Duke had to go and win this year!!!

Oh well! Anyway, this morning I woke up even earlier than usual to get a run in before my exam. It was definitely a mental game over a physical one today. My legs felt pretty good (hopefully I don't jinx myself), but I was preoccupied with getting in some last minute studying before my test. I still managed to do a 5 mile run and a mini cool down all before 7:35. Today's splits:

Mile 1: 9:55
Mile 2: 10:03
Mile 3:10:03
Mile 4: 10:01
Mile 5: 9:46
.48: 8:42 (cool down)

When I saw that I was 2 seconds over a ten minute pace at the end of mile 4 I was determined to finish mile 5 in 9:58 or less. The last half mile was across the bridge though and so it was really windy, but I finished strong and managed to keep my total time less than a 10 minute pace. I love giving myself little goals like that and then beating them! Then I cut my cool down a little short so I could study a bit before my exam. Which thankfully is over!

--Melissa