Liftoff

This race didn't go as we hoped. I ran with my wife who was shooting for about 3:37. Things clicked along very well for the first 5 miles, but we were a little ahead of schedule and running north into the wind. We were running even splits, but I fell down as a pacer by not taking the wind more seriously. Running a couple seconds faster than target pace at that point was  a bad decision - we should have gone for a negative split with the wind at our backs on the way home.

Allison started talking about dropping around mile 15, and we talked through it for a couple more miles, but by ~17.75 we pulled over to the side of the road in Jax Beach and stopped. I knew it was time - Allison has less quit in her than me by a mile. Everyone who's run for any stretch knows what it feels like on a bad day. On another day she would have run a PR, but the marathon is such a fine line anything can happen.

We borrowed a phone and called her parents, who live 3 miles away for a lift.  I asked if she'd mind if I finished. I've had enough disappointments and shortcomings in my running in the last few months, so I really did not feel like a DNF.

I felt pretty guilty when I left, but my wife had already processed it and was feeling better by the time the family reunited at the finish. She's more level-headed than me, something I can learn from. I was a little more sluggish than anticipated covering the last 8 miles. My final 10k split was 38:29, 6:11 pace or so. That should be under 6 minutes, but it's where I'm at, not where I want to be.

Despite the disappointing ending, the rest of the race was a lot of fun. We had a good time doing the race pre-rituals together and running well in the first half. So it goes.

8 early miles up Jax Beach before heading home.

9 miles at track. Ran with Mike M - think we did a good job of running with some effort but not too hard. Gasparilla 15k for everyone on Saturday.

Sorry Mike, but I ripped off your splits. I'm just too tired to be original tonight.

Workout: 4x400, 2x800, 4x400 with 200 recoveries between items and 400 between sets.

Splits: 1:26, 1:23, 1:22, 1:20, 2:37, 2:37, 1:19, 1:19, 1:18, 1:14.

Busy day, but got in relaxed 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

I took my daughters to a karate class tonight. I've wanted to try a family class for awhile, and it went pretty well, but it was a lot of work getting dinner, homework, baths, etc handled around the class. We'll see if it sticks.

8 miles at lunch.

I'm running the Gasparilla 15k on Saturday. This is usually the winter peak race for local runners, by way of tradition, temperature and prize money.

When I hit the skids this winter, I didn't plan to run it at all and planned for an alternate goal. I never ended up getting into shape, so that plan went out the window too.

In the last couple weeks, I think I've started turning the ship around. I still don't have any good workouts or races to point to. And I know I'm nowhere near PR shape. But I do think the race on Saturday is a chance to take a step forward.

Mentally, it's a little challenging to settle for a goal that will put me well out of the competition and is 15-20 seconds per mile slower than last year. But I do feel I need to start challenging myself if I am going to train seriously this summer.

The alternate - just running to stay in shape - sounds pretty good in contrast. But I'd like to at least give myself the option of how I train for the rest of the year rather than letting it all go right now.

So...I'll be shooting for around 53:30, about 5:45 pace. One one hand, that sounds pretty easy considering I almost broke 51 a year ago. On the other, I haven't run sub-6 minute miles for any sustained distance in months. So it's far from a slam dunk, but hopefully not completely impossible.

AM: 4 miles, a few strides.

Gasparilla! It went well today. If you told me a year ago I'd be happy to run 53:42, I'd be "unhappy". But it's this year, and I'm good with the result.

I met Charles and Mike ahead of the race and we ran about 3 miles to warmup. A bit more than intended, but those guys are so awesome to run with I didn't notice our mileage until the race was about to start.

Mike and I planned to run 5:45 miles. For Mike, injury not withstanding, that is no big shakes, but he was sick and I was glad for the company.

We clicked off the first couple miles right on pace. It felt pretty easy and I wondered if I was sandbagging the race (spoiler-not!). I heard we were in 30th place, and there were definitely a lot of people up there. It's a Gasparilla tradition to go out too fast, so I knew a lot of them would be coming back. Still, it felt a little weird to see so many people in front. After the first mile, I didn't get passed again.

That said, a lot of people ran well today. Best weather for Gasparilla in years, neither humid nor windy. Just 55-60 temps, really nothing to hold you back.

By mile 3, 5:45 pace no longer felt easy. At the mile 5 turnaround I was really starting to work. Mile 8 I slipped off, but on the 9th mile I came back. Still, the last .3 I could literally not breathe, and I crossed the finish line and began dry-heaving. A race official approached me with an slinky bag, anticipating actual vomit action. That was an interesting first experience. I think I ran today as hard as I ever have.

I've tinkered with the idea that lower miles might be an interesting recipe to experiment with. I think this race definitively answered that question.

I can run 30-32 200s on 10 miles a week or 100. But for distance events, after the initial miles, the difference is the mileage base. I came up against the limits of my training at mile 7.5 today, and it was not pretty.

If I choose to put on a certain set of goggles, I could feel bad, running a lot slower than last year. But more realistically, this is the best I have run in months, and I was able to match my pace against my goal and stay in control. Now I need to take this momentum and roll it forward.

I'm really grateful for my teammates that help break down the race pressure and mindless mileage in our weekly training. I got to spend time hanging with them post-race and that community is my second family.

It was very cool to meet Tom K from the blog on the bridge post-race. The sense of humor and camaraderie in his writing transfer in person. West Coast! Florida yeah!

I have a nagging question to answer: at 42, have I ran my fastest times? Nothing happened today to put off the Grim Reaper, but I don't think I lost ground either.

I think I still stand at a point where my fate is in my own hands.