One Run Does Not Define the Season

This morning's run was really difficult. It was already in the 80's when we started at 5:15am. It was super humid and sticky (95% humidity). Sweat was just sitting on my skin and not evaporating to help cool me down. My pace group is 10:30 - 11:30 minutes per mile; however, on long runs they say we're 11:00 - 11:30 minutes per mile and suggest that we should slow down further to adjust to the hot weather. Well, this is MarathonFest and apparently MarathonFest is always in badass beast mode because when they say we should slow down, we don't or we run faster. During my 10 miles this morning, I was wondering why it felt challenging to keep up with my group.  At the end, I found out that we were maintaining a 10:38 per mile pace!  Clearly, that's on the fast end of our pace group. Furthermore, the 10:38 pace includes walk breaks and water stops, so we must have really been booking it when we were actually running. Nonetheless, I survived another "long" run even though I didn't finish as strongly as I would have liked to. One run does not define the season. I'm sure there will be more difficult runs along my journey to the finish line in NYC. After all, the reason I'm training is to make race day easier. If it wasn't for my group, I would have quit at mile six. I should embrace difficult runs and be proud of the fact that I got out there and ran 10 miles today. I'm stronger for it!