Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I'm still waiting for the day that I accidently enter in my username and password on the blog for all to see.  I know it's going to happen.  It's just a matter of time.

I felt real good this morning.  I've got another 5k this Thursday.  I may or may not run it with just for fun.  I've invited my local running buddies on facebook.  allie said she's going to come, so maybe I'll pace her to a sub 17.  Only if she brings cookies, though.

Time - 44:29 (avg. pace 8:12)

Splits - 8:20, 8:14, 8:19, 7:59, 8:11, 3:27 for 0.42 (8:11 pace)

Also in blogging news Marathon Dreamer's brother-in-law was in a horrific accident and could use some prayers.

Well, my miles haven't been great lately, and my speed work has been nonexistent.  But I wouldn't miss one of these races unless something really important was going on.  Tonight it was just my kids' Christmas musical recital, so no big deal.  Just kidding.

It seems like every month there's always at least one new person that shows up that beats me.  So the guy that won last month wasn't there, but some Aussie came by and cruised right on by me.  He had such a smooth and effortless running form.  He must have been well over 50, too.  That's 50 too, not 52.

So I tried a new strategy this time; start out fast and see how long I could maintain.  I was in the lead for the first 4 tenths of a mile.  Then Crocodile Dundee passed me.  I hung with him as long as I could.  I even tried matching his stride which seemed to be short choppy steps, but my legs didn't like that.  He slowly kept pulling away.  The first mile was 6:43, way too fast.  But you know, at the time it felt good.  There was a small hill on the next mile.  Short and steep.  Just enough to throw off your momentum.  The second mile was 7:19.  And they had the turn around in the same place as last month, so I knew it was going to be short again. 

I could see I had a sizable gap on the next person behind me and knew I wasn't in danger of being passed.  So when I really started gasping for breath as my foolish strategy came to fruition, I made little effort to push through the pain.  The third mile was 7:43.  Really?  Burt, you suck.  Yep.  I said it.  But I have no regrets.  As Dewey Finn once said, "If we fall, we will fall with dignity, with a guitar in our hands and rock in our hearts!"  I didn't feel like running the additional 0.05 miles to round out my 5000 meters since there was no chance of PRing.  As the townie in Waterboy once said, "Oh no!  We suck again!"

Oh, how did the raffle go?  You mean the raffle where they gave away a hat, socks, and the grand prize of $100 off a new pair of running shoes?  That raffle?  I won.  Let me say that again.  I WON!  Merry Christmas to me.

I went running with my Ragnar team early this morning.  So early that I put my shoes on in the dark.  You'll notice that I had to split my miles up between two different shoes.  At least it was one right foot and one left foot.

Time - 44:30 (avg. pace 8:54)

Splits - 9:02, 8:55, 8:51, 9:02, 8:39