Staying on schedule

As my goal is to finish the Brussels 20k, five weeks from today, in under two hours, I am paying particular attention to my average speed. The Runkeeper app on my iPhone comes in very handy for this, as it will tell me, after each kilometer, my average time per k. For the Kasteeljogging in Perk (yes, that is a village name!) I set out for 5:50 per k. The first bit was much faster, but then the average started crawling up. Most of the track was through forest, where the soil was a little bit soggy because of the recent rains, making it feel like a light cross-country run. Heavier than the paved roads I take normally. Four kilometers before the finish, Runkeeper told me my average was up to 5:52. I struggled to accelerate, with some success as I finished with exactly the average I planned for. It still needs to go down a bit, so I have a margin for the heavy route that makes up the 20k. But mainly, I need to work on distance. Today, I will be aiming for a gentle 18k training. On 5 May, I should join the 21k nearby. On 13 May, I could follow up with my traditional preparation for the 20K: the 14.7k in Bruges. After that, I'll be tapering.