Did the stair climb today with my co-workers on the Sedgwick County EMS Paramedics team. Almost 20 of us came out to do it. It was a benefit for the American Lung Association and our team raised the most money. Don't know my time or place--just took a wild guess--it was chip-timed with staggered starts so no results will be posted until Monday. It was at the arena so you climbed stairs to the second floor, ran around, climbed to the third, ran around, went down to the second again, ran around, and then down to the bottom. repeatx2 for a total of 3 circuits. A lot of people were getting confused and cutting out laps or running extra laps so the finishing times will be messed up but oh well. People that I had lapped several times over were finishing right behind me so I know they didn't do all the laps. It wasn't an all out effort for me but definitely a good hard one as my calves and chest were burning a bit at the end. .5 mile warm-up with strides. 1.98 mile race. Drove home, and then out for my scheduled 16 mile training run--the real work today. Coming back in the headwind was tough and I must've been fatigued from the morning race because around mile 13 my legs turned to rubber and I felt like I was bonking. The headwind was beating me up. I thought about calling it a day and then thought about how going North in my April marathon I am likely to hit this same headwind. So, I decided I would beat the run, the run would not beat me, and was pleasantly surprised that I was able to force my rubbery legs to hold steady. 7:43 average pace for the 16, splits 8:00, 7:48, 7:25, 7:24, 7:24, 7:50, 8:02, 7:58, 7:50, 7:40, 7:36, 7:35, 7:38, 7:51, 7:40, 7:40. Ran this all on dirt roads to give my joints a break. Stopped and walked half a mile, wanted to get home faster, so finally mustered up the will to break into a jog. 1.08 at 9:18 pace for a cool down. Update: 14:24 well I guess with the stairs that is alright. Supposedly I got second in my age group but who really knows haha
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