Go, you chicken fat, go away!

So much to say today.  Where to start?  Well, I wasn't feeling great last week, but I should've run Saturday.  I used the excuse that my wife was in Mexico with my sister.  I wanted to do either a fast 3.1 miles or a trial run of 6.2 miles for this Saturday's 10k.  So I decided to do the trial run today.  I want to run a sub 50 Saturday.  I set my Garmin to alert me at each kilometer and at 5 minute intervals.  For the first three or four kilometers I was under the pace I needed to be at.  Then it started to creep a little over.  I could feel that I had slowed down a little, but not too bad.  Over all I felt pretty steady.  I finished in 50:22.  Am I confident that I will be able to break 50 Saturday?  One thing worries me.  Today's run was mostly on sidewalk.  I run a lot faster on sidewalk than anything else.  London's Run will be mostly on dirt farm roads.  I'll just have to push myslef a little harder.  I need to go about 4 seconds faster per mile to break the 50 barrier.

Side note:  Have you ever watched the hit situational comedy The Office?  There was one episode where they had an office 5k.  Andrew Bernard had problems with nipple bleeding.  That is totally me.  Now what is the measure of a true friend?  Someone who is not a true friend would just say, "that's gross, dude.  I'm glad that doesn't happen to me."  A true friend will tell you, "Hey, you know what?  If you wear Body Armor, that won't happen."  Luckily I have a true friend that turned me on to Body Armor.  I bear my testimony that it works.  But today I had a bit of a problem with it.  I guess I didn't tuck it into my shorts good enough this morning.  For the first bit, it kept riding up on me.  I also think it has to do with my shrinking gut.  It used to just grab on to my underbelly and stay.  Now (look at the weight loss since Jan. 1st) there's less to grab on to.  I finally got it tucked in good enough to stay.

Time: 50:22 (avg. pace - 8:07 min./mi.)

Splits: 7:49, 7:59, 8:03, 8:18, 8:27, 8:04 1:41 (8:25)

Finish time: 7:30 am

Temp: 50

Time: 22:36 (7:41 avg.) new record!!

Splits: 7:46, 7:53, 6:55 (7:19)

Finish time: 7:46am

Temp: 36

I can tell my diet is doing wonders for my running.  I pushed it this morning, but not too hard, and this was the fastest I've ever ran this loop.  Not carrying around those extra 20 lbs. sure makes a difference. 

My friend Will from my Ragnar team gave me a new pair of shoes.  He said they hurt his feet and he was going to throw them away.  (Kind of like - Ewww, this tastes awful.  Try it.)  Just kidding.  So I wore them today.  They were okay, but a little tight around the toes.  The best thing about them is that they are flashy.  I bet they glow in the dark.  They matched my blue Ragnar shirt quite well.

This was the fourth annual London's Run half marathon, 10k, and 2 mile fun run.  Last year I ran the half marathon.  This year I decided to do the 10k.  London Solomon is a little girl who lost the battle with cancer.  This event is in her honor, and every year they pick a young person with cancer to help them out.

My goal was to get under 50 minutes.  Unofficially I did.  But it was close, and I haven't seen the official results.  I'll update when I do.  I started way back.  They didn't use a chip to time the race, so that was a mistake on my part not to move up.  I also forgot to take my sweat pants off.  We got there way too late.  I only live two miles away.  The half marathon started at 8am, and the 10k ten minutes after that.  I thought if I left my house at 7am, that we would be fine.  We ended up leaving about 7:30.  Then it took a half an hour to get there because traffic was so bad.  We barely got there in time to see the half marathoners off.  Then I turned on my Garmin, and it took forever to locate satellites.  I didn't do my regular stretch routine, so I didn't have my head in the game enough to remember to drop the drawers. 

They started the race, and it took about 15 seconds for me to cross the start line.  That's when I started my Garmin, and that's why I'm worried my official time will be listed as over 50 minutes.  Garmin also told me the course was 6.29 miles long.  Was there satellite error?  Did I weave a lot?  I doubt it.  0.09 miles equates to 475 feet, and if I'm running an 8 minute mile pace, that equates to 43 seconds.  So in my heart I know I did a sub 50, but I will be bummed if it ends up being listed over 50.

Like I said, I started towards the back, and had to weave my way through.  I saw Camille up ahead.  I didn't pass her until we were about 2 kilometers in to it.  She did quite well, so read her blog, too.  The entire first half I felt like I should be running faster, but I kept telling myself, "If you do, you'll die."  I'm glad I stuck to the plan.  While I didn't have a whole lot left at the end, I was certainly alive and was able to pass the girl that was about 5 and a half steps ahead of me the entire race.

I think I got passed only twice in the last mile.  Usually about 100 people pass me, so that was good.  There was one guy that I failed to pass right at the end, and he may have been in my age category.  If I find out that he medaled I'm going to be so upset.  Speaking of medaling, they didn't have times posted by the time I left, but they did the awards ceremony.  They were just calling out names and no times.  So I went up to the announcer and asked if he could read the times.  He said he only had names.  So I listened without really expecting I would get a medal, and sure enough, they didn't call my name.  Then he read the female winners of my age group.  When he got to the first place finisher he was like, "Is this right?"  Then he called my name.  I yelled, "I am NOT a girl."

So that leaves the lingering question:  Did I actually medal??  I still doubt it, but I'll check the results when they post them tonight.  Apparently I beat all the girls in my age group, so I got that going for me.  My buddy from my Del Sol Ragnar team came in third overall.  However, they only gave out plaques to the top two finishers in the 10k.  Then they called his name for second place overall.  He was pretty confused because he was 100% positive there were two guys in front of him.  I told him maybe one of them was a bandit.  Then I saw this young guy from the Queen Creek cross country team with a bewildered look on his face.  Greg had the integrity to go tell them they made a mistake.  So with all the mistake making going on, who knows what place I'm going to take.  I think I remember being listed as a girl in the last race I did, too.

Splits: 7:44, 7:36, 7:51, 8:00, 8:04, 8:23, 2:12 (7:35)

*********************UPDATE************************

The official results are out.  It was just as I feared.  They listed me at 50:03.  3 lousy seconds!!  Oh well.  I know how I did.  So, 46th overall, 6th in my age division.  The next guy up in my division beat me by 1 minute and 46 seconds.  I would've had to run a 47:24 to medal.  Maybe next year.  I also got beat by 11 females.  Not bad.  They didn't post the 2 mile results like they did last year.  So I'm not sure how my kids did.  According to my wife AJ finished around 16 minutes and Mary around 19.