our choices show what we truly are

It was a perfect race, I wanted to accomplish two goals, finishing under 1:27 and finishing among the top 1000 finishers (with 1:27 I would be placed historically around position 1000). From my last race a month ago, I knew both goals were achievable but the execution is the devil. Three of us left our town at 7 am and we drove to Rome. We got to the starting area at 7:45, used the facilities at the local McDonald chapter,and then went to the start to drop the bags. This race is the unofficial italian championship of half marathon and about 10000 people were there. Without warming up at all we entered our corral at 8:45 and we waited 9:15 when the race started on time. Temperatures at home were around freezing while in Rome around 5°C, but clear skies were telling us we would finish the race with a perfect spring temperatures, most importantly no wind. My goal was to keep the pace around 4:05-4:10 but more on the 05 side. This race has a roller altitude profile for the first half and the a short downhill and flat finish at the end. I knew I had to preserve my legs and lungs for the fast finish but I didn't want to loose to many seconds on the three hills during the first 10k. First 5k was 20:30, almost perfect, the 5 seconds delay was due to the congestion during the first 1k. The second 5k considering the 2 hills was almost as good 20:38 and the third 5k with the last hill and the only downhill part was almost the same 20:39. During the last 6.1k I gave it all I had in the tank, smelling and seeing the sea after 20k of running on a straight freeway, even though my calves started seizing I finished strong with 24:50. Final time was 1:26:38. I am really happy right now, this was one of the biggest goal races for the year and being able to post a new PR here it is really encouraging for the upcoming months. More training is coming with the goal of lowering my half time again.

Very easy miles to relax my legs and enjoy the warm weather at night.

Easy recovery miles, legs are almost back to normal, no pain, just general fatigue.

No run today, too much rain outside, inside was warmer and cozy.... :)

8k at easy pace then 10X100m strides with 100m jog. It was nice to feel some speed again, my legs responded quite well and I was tempted to keep going during the last 500m, but I decided to stay with my original plan and finish nice and recovered. "Almost" back to normal, most of the fatigue from the race is "almost" gone.

Another easy run, tomorrow I will attempt something longer and faster to check my recovery. Legs and breathing were fine tonight.

Today I tested my legs over a medium slow run, I finished 16 miles feeling ok. I went out really slow for the first 21k with the goal of just finishing them, then I finished the last 5k at 4:30/k. It was nice running in the morning with some warm spring weather (sun, clouds, wind, a little bit of rain and then more sun).