Speed

Apparently my system is playing bouncy ball.  I was sick at the beginning of last week, then better towards the end of the week, then sick again this week!! What's up??!!  Anyway, I'm fed up! Fed Up!  I went running anyway ;)  I only did 4 miles, I should have (if I'd been on schedule), doing a 7 mile run yesterday and a swim followed by a weights session.  Well THAT didn't happen. I'm just happy I'm out of bed. 

So on my "run" today I got to thinking about speed.  I always try to run my fastest even though it might not be my goal for the day, but this is because I want my average speed to to be an 8.5 minute mile.  I'm not even touching that right now!  I'm around 9.5.  Now I know, I know, I almost exclusively run hills and that perpetuates my speed problem, but my husband can do some smokin' fast runs on these hills!   This gets me thinking more....what is fast?  Is fast a number?  Is fast a perspective? Is fast goal?  I have a friend who went from overweight and smoking to running a regular 7.5-8.0 min/mile.  I stand in awe of her!  I then stand in envy....here I am...healthy always, and athlete x3 years now and I'm still slow (in my opinion) as molasses in January! 

I know I should do speed drills, sprints, Fartleks, etc, but even these don't seem to help my dilemma.  I wonder further...am I just slow? I do blame my mother for smoking in the '70's while she was pregnant, but that can't be the only thing wrong. 

So I leave the question out there....what is speed?  Where does it hide?  How do I find it?