I am one with the levee and the levee with me

Coach wanted this one run at a slower pace to get more of the guys bunched up together later in the race. He wanted 10:30 for two miles and then whatever we had for the last 800m. We had 6 guys within 30 seconds of each other, and 5:15 pace isn't all that slow a pace for this course.

We stayed bunched through about 1.75 and then the others started to lose touch with the top 2 guys and me. We went through 2 in 10:42, a little off pace, and finished with a 2:24 final half. 

AM - 3 easy miles.

PM - 8 miles easy with the team. 

9 easy, mostly by myself. The team did speed drills and I sat them out (sprint stuff makes me injury prone).

Rested up today. I had a pretty severe allergy attack today that laid me out most of the evening. I felt awful and decided I could really use the rest.

The national high school rankings came out this week, and it's pretty exciting stuff for our team. All summer we've had our sights set on going after Ferris HS from Spokane and Jackson HS from the west side of the state. On paper we should be about even with these teams. Ferris is currently ranked #1 in the country and Jackson #13. The defending national champions, North Central, also from Spokane, are at #14. Of course, preseason rankings are spotty at best, but this team is good enough to run with those top two teams. The head coach said he got an information request form from the guys who do the rankings, but decided he didn't want his guys focused on rankings and didn't fill it out. Ferris and North Central are our second race of the season, and the guys are totally stoked for it.

Anyway, 12 miles on my own today. Had a golf thingy with work so I missed the morning practice. Realized about halfway through that I had not been drinking nearly enough and finished severely dehydrated. The last 4 miles or so were not fun. Estimated pace at 6:45ish but rounding total mileage down to 12. 1:25:46 total time.