Took some of my runners up to a meet at the University of Idaho. Pretty good results, for the most part. Should be a good season for them. I'm not so excited about my own performances. My desire to race wasn't there and the results show it. Ran the mile and 3k, placing 4th in one and 3rd in the other with 4:26.05 and 9:03.5. On a positive note, it's the best double I've ever run. On the other hand, I feel I should be able to hit a 4:20/8:50 double right now. So in the mile got right in behind this stud high school kid from Spokane and another college guy for the first half. We go through splits of 63 and 2:08 (I'm assuming 400m, not quarters) and I felt like the pace was just absolutely suicidal. I haven't run a competitive mile since high school, and it seemed a lot worse than it was. I don't even know the last time I ran 63 or 2:08, but it's been years. But my legs were responsive. 800m in and I was able to close a gap that was forming between me and the UI guy. Final quarter rolls around (3:15) and I start having PVCs one right after the other and it rattles me a little. I eased off the pace even though I knew it's harmless. This is the part I'm kicking myself about. The desire wasn't there. Anyway, I ran the last quarter somewhere around 70 and feel I blew my chance for my first sub 4:20. In the 3k I found a guy to sit on and we went through the mile in 4:43. He put down a surge there and I didn't respond. I figured I could but I knew it would hurt a lot and, again, the desire wasn't there to push myself. Felt like I coasted in the last 1400m. I dunno, I feel like sometime last week training changed from a stress reliever to a stressor. I'm not balancing myself right and I'm feeling the strain. Lots of things are piling up and I need to figure out how to get in balance again. On an interesting note, I tried scraping my legs between races with surprisingly good results. That mile should have made me stiff and sore for the rest of the day, but I got the 3k start line feeling loose and supple. Cool stuff. | 