High Speeds

First all-out race after the mission, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I ended up doing better than I thought. Historically, Murray Fun days has been a difficult race for me, and I never had cracked 16:30. This year was different. 

  I started out with Teren, but dropped back a little before mile 1. I missed my mile split, but was 5:35 at the turnaround which gives me a 5:13 or 5:12 first mile. I was afraid of crashing after falling back, but when I hit the downhill, I was feeling great. Was 10:22 at 2 miles, and catching up to second place, who had dropped back from Teren as well.

  Normally, at this point the heat gets to me and I writhe in pain to the finish, but today I was feeling good. One thing that may have made a difference was that I poured cold water and ice on myself right before the start. Perhaps it was a good night's sleep. Or possibly, being two years older compensated for the lack of training.

 In any case, I smelt blood, and went for it. I caught second place a little after two miles, on the little hill (of doom and sadness). Normally, this is where I get caught. But not today. The last mile was in 5:08 (long) and I ended up with 15:58.9. Under 16, and a huge personal course record.

  I'm grateful for how things turned out today, and wish all a happy Independance day (first one in the USA for 3 years!) 

The usual splits 9 + 3.

Splits again.

 Today we did version 1.0 of the Great Chase. The Great Chase is a two mile race among the siblings. The catch is that we have a staggered start. Me and my father used recent race performances and personal bests to determine how much of  a head start to give to each child. Steven had a 1:10 gap on William, William a 50 second gap on Joseph & Jacob, and I started 1:20 behind Joseph & Jacob. If everyone repeated their PR, we would all finish at the same time. So we didn't know who would win.

 I had 5:47 through the first mile (2:22 and 2:25). A little before 800 to go I caught William, who had crashed pretty badly. That third 800 was also 2:25. When I reached 800 to go I saw the rest of my siblings, and realized that they were within striking range. So I turned on the gas and pretty much stopped looking at my watch.

 I ended up with 2:17 for the last 800, 4:42 for the last mile, and 9:29 overall, a PR for me in two miles on this course. (and to my surprise I ended up beating all of my siblings in the Great Chase).