track fan

2:04:56.  Not the best of days. Big whine: my SI joint is out of wack and it every step hurt.  It is hot as all get out (86F at the end, with sun), and the last 7 miles were into a 18 mph headwind. Wawawa.  Big baby. 

I am at work now.  Having a hard time concentrating as I figure out how/when to make an unscheduled trip to Fort Collins next week.  It looks like my Mom has been very sick (she has lost over 50 lbs in a month and now weighs less than 100 lbs), they found a spot on her lung.  She is/has been a heavy smoker for most of her life.  So, the CT scan is next week and I am going to try to get out there to see her, regardless of the results. I have been expecting this for years, but it is still sort of a shock.  I am reminded of the lung cancer researchers at Vanderbilt University that wore appropriate buttons on their lab coats, "no one deserves lung cancer", no matter how one may feel about smoking, it is very hard to quit and a most horrible way to die, so no one "deserves" it - very true.  So that is my final saga for the day...

AM: (11 miles, 1:31:27) 28:17wu/26:39cd.   5 mile Steady State run (target pace: 7:16-7:29) actual:  7:29, 7:18, 7:18, 7:15, 7:09.   Yesterday was SO nice, high of  **77F** never never never is it this nice at the end of May.  So, since it was cooler yesterday I knew this morning would be cooler than it has been too.  So, I decided to get down to the track and get one more decent workout in before it is too hot.  I vacillated between 4 and 6 miles, but on my way to the track I realized that it was not actually as cool as I had hoped, so I told myself to shoot for 5.  By the time I finished it was 90.6F (no wonder it felt hot ;-)).  Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with how well it went, if it weren't hot (and if I had slowed down on the last two) I easily could have done 8, which surprised me.  I was going to do 8 anyway, but then I remembered that I had a 3 mile uphill run home ... so I quit while I was ahead.

PM: 4 miles easy.

I am going to get my SI joint fixed today ... I hope.

I hope you are all doing well.  For those of you not on facebook ... here is a picture of the beautiful Diamondback rattlesnake that was in our back yard yesterday.

at least 8, probably a little longer.   1:14:44.  Ran very easy, it is extremely warm and my legs were a little tired (but thanks to my chiro my hips are even again, so not nearly as painful!).  

We have a faculty candidate in town ... so it is going to be a very busy day.

 HAPPY RUNNING DAY everyone!!!

AM: (8.5 miles, 1:12:40).  28:22wu/28:01cd.  10 x short hill repeats on steep hill (40 secs @ 5K pace).  

PM: easy 4 3.5

I hope you are all doing very well this week.  Nothing very exciting going on here ... or at least nothing new.   Glad to be running, glad to be alive.  

Have a great Thursday! 

1:06:xx.  Ran a little long because last night I had to cut my 2nd run short.  I talked to my Mom for a long time and by the time I got out the door it was already getting dark.  One of the "bad" things about where I live is once the sun goes down it is really no place to run (even with a headlamp).  No biggie, I just added on a 1/2 mile today.

Bad news on the Mom front.  I won't go into excruciating detail, suffice to say any treatment will be palliative  at this point.  I don't know how long, but probably not very long.  I am hopeful that it won't be as painful as it could be, but I am awaiting confirmation of this from one of my friends from the cancer center (I sent them the CT scan report).  

Happy trails bloggers.  On a more cheerful note, Prefontaine Classic track meet is this weekend, the 10K and 2 mile are the whose-who in distance running (in the world!).  You can watch some of it here. 

AM: 8 miles, 1:03:25.  

PM: easy 4

Last night was a great night for racing at the Pre Classic.  My favorite quote of the night: "well, as far as introductions let's start with world record holders and work our way down from there"  WOW.  27:10 10K was "middle of the pack".  They went through the 5K slower than they had hoped (13:25 -- they had two rabbits but neither were able to go as fast as the lead pack!!!!  can you imagine a race so quick that you couldn't find rabbits to pace?) - the goal was to hit the 5K in 13:18, as I think they were hoping to have the winner come in under 26:40.  Mo Farah (UK runner who trains with Salazar and the Oregon Track Club) won in a stunning 400m where he basically out sprinted the fastest 5K runner in the world right now (Merga).  Mo ran a 26:46 and there were 9 men under 27!!!  It was pretty amazing, they hit 8K in 21:35!!!  At one point the pack sort of slowed down (to a 4:20 pace) and there was a little jostling and two guys were talking like they were on a long run!!  Amazing.  More track and field today on NBC.

Take care bloggers.