Happy 40th Birthday to me! Today begins my 5-year (or less) journey to my BQ time of 3:20. I intended to start this journey with a run during the day today, but the run didn't start until about 8:30pm. We ate a late dinner at my favorite Mongolian BBQ restaurant, which was great, but I knew I'd be regretting the very hot & spicy foods and stuffing myself beyond full when I ran. I figured I'd hit the cemetery since it seemed fitting and what better way to celebrate with a little Thriller while running through the dark cemetery? The cemetery I wanted to run is huge and I hadn't run there yet. The gates were locked. Dang! It's up near the track so I just parked and jogged to the track. It was all downhill and I felt like I was flying! Woo hoo! Got to the track and jogged an easy lap. As I was jogging, I contemplated how cool it would be to get a track mile PR on my birthday. I figured I'd try for a 6:30 mile. I started out like a rabbit but I couldn't hold the pace after the first 800m (3:06) so I walked for a lap, then I tried it again. This time I told myself I'd take it slower. Again, hit the 800m mark and stopped (3:20) with some bad stomach cramps. Better, but still not what I felt like I could hold for a mile, especially with the cramping. I was running clockwise on the track for these 800s and I think that messed me up psychologically, as well. So I decided to start again and not leave without a PR. Heck, I've hit sub-7:00 (barely) in races, why not on the track? One last time, going the right way on the track. Serious cramps after 800m that made me wonder whether I'd lose it out of one or both ends. All I could think about was coming back home and blogging that I tried for my PR but didn't get it. I knew I'd kick myself all night for giving up without going the whole distance. So despite the pain and discomfort, I wouldn't give up. Not as fast as I'd like, but it's sub-7:00 so now I consider myself fast (note: no quotes). Next stop is sub-6:00 so I can be like Burt and his 5:57 mile. Here's the splits for my birthday mile PR:
6:56 (1:51, 1:45, 1:44, 1:36)
I ended up at a 6:10 pace at the very end, which was great after those fast 800s. I just had to start out a little slower. I am surprised the 3rd quarter wasn't slower because I purposefully slowed down - or thought I did - so I could finish the mile. The negative splits look good. :-) The run back up the hill to the car burned the quads. I'm realizing my legs just aren't that strong. Gotta work on that.
Commentary:
I had camp all weekend, then Sunday was a crash and burn day trying to catch up on sleep. Didn't get much sleep, but I did rest some. I needed to do some work this weekend, but that didn't happen, so I didn't log on at all. I forgot I had a 7:30am meeting this morning and didn't log on until almost 8am to realize it. Birthday miracle - the 7:30am meeting was moved to Wednesday. Whew! Camping was awesome and we both had a great time. I'm exhausted still, but will try and get a little more sleep this week. See the pictures from yesterday...
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