THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

7:33 AP.  Did 3x1 miles at 10k effort at 6:40, 6:54, and 6:44.  I was really hoping 10k effort woud produce faster speeds.  It is not looking real good for a PR on Saturday.  I just can't seem to get it together with running lately.  I am thinking of ditching a fall marathon, and running Houston in January.  My sister lives in Houston and is thinking of doing the marathon, plus this would give me more time to train for and enjoy shorter races for a while before thinking about a marathon again.  Then, hopefully I will be itching for the 26.2 and be ready for a big PR on what is supposedly a flat and fast course.

am  2.69 miles with my mom at 13:00 pace.  I pushed Vanessa in the stroller. Mom is trying to get back into running.  She did pretty awesome today!

pm.  Busy busy.   Got the shopping done, then had Jesse's concert at 7, so I wore my running clothes to the concert and then ran home super brisk, no dilly dallying so I could get home in time to put the kids to bed.  7:27 AP.

8:11 AP.  I made a rarity, hamburger helper, for dinner.  Never, ever, again.  Never, ever, go running on a belly full of that junk.  I felt puketastic the whole time.  Despite the icky belly,  I did enjoy running long and lazy and not hurrying my pace.  I still feel pukey, so I hope that either I just throw up already or the feeling passes.

8:42 average pace.  80+ degrees yuck.  Took it very, very easy and listened to tunes.  Stretched out really good afterward.  I'll take another really easy day tomorrow and hopefully be infused with freshness for Saturday's race.  I've decided to go Joe and run without a watch for the race.  I'm going to go out with Eddy who is gunning for a 38:00.  While I think that is way too fast for me I am at least going to stay on his heels for a while if the feeling is good.

Puttered along at 8:52 pace with 5 accelerations to 10k race pace.  The good news is that my legs feel good today, even during the accelerations.  In fact, 10k pace felt so good that I am actually getting excited about tomorrow!  That's a good sign!  Maybe, perhaps, there is a little hope.

Well, I have mixed feelings about this race!  First, this is not my official time--a close guess by looking at the finishing clock--they posted the race results already and I am not in them!  Annoying!  I wore a bib and they took my tag so it must have gotten lost.  I looked at the other results and was 11th woman I believe based on my estimated time.  Anyways:

The good:  PR!  Aerobically I was not stressed, legs felt pretty good .  I ran sans watch but they called some of the splits and I sorta  heard them--first one was 6:45(slow but I feel good), then 13:26 so 6:41?, missed the 3 mile split, at 4 miles I was 27:09 and sped up, 33:50 something at the 5 mile mark so another 6:41 and then I tried to buck up and finish the last 1.2 fast--around 6:35 pace if I did the math right.

Bad:  Not a very big PR, I think I had too much left in the tank afterward  At least my legs are starting to come back and I am feeling excited about more fast and short races! Afterward I also ran the 2-mile with Vanessa in the stroller and we did it in 14:09--our first mile was 7:30 because we were caught in the crowd so our second mile was 6:39--sweet!(told ya there was too much left in the tank).

I think if I get myself together and quit fearing the fast paces I can go sub-40 this summer.  I think I can I think I can....not sure what to do with my training.  Right now I am really wondering aimlessly.

Update:  I e-mailed the race director, he found me in the timing mess and fixed it.  My official time was 2 seconds faster than I thought!  12th woman, 4th in age group.  Times were faster this year than last year--must be the good weather we had.