faster with age

     Ran 10 miles this morning with the last 3 at 7:28 pace. Overall pace for 10 was 7:59.

     PM  5 mile run at 8:52 pace. I did this run after dark on a 2 track road on my property with my dogs. They got into a skunk at about 2 miles so I got to enjoy the aroma for the last three miles whenever the dogs ran near me. It wasn't just the smell you get when you drive past one that was hit on the road but a real in your face make your eyes water strong smell. I never even touched any of the dogs but when I came in the house my son complained all evening about the smell coming off me just from being near them.

     25 mile bike ride this morning. It was raining and muddy so I took the my road bike. Not too far into the ride the rain quit and it was nice.

     PM   I seem to be making a habit of late PM runs the last couple of weeks. It seems I've been having a hard time finding the time. Tonight I got home around nine and should have gone right out but found the couch comfortable and felt very unmotivated to do anything other than go to bed.. A little after 10 I finally got out the door for 5 easy miles. It was nice once I got going with a full moon and temps in the 50s. Glad I got out. 8:35 pace.

     I ran 8 miles with the first 5 at around 8:45 pace then did a 2 mile fartlec run of 8x200 at a little under 6:00 pace [some uphill some downhill ave. 44 sec ea.] with 200 recoveries at around 8:00 pace. Overall pace 8:18.

     PM   another late one at 11:00 pm nice easy 3 mile jog with very slight rain at 9:14 pace.

     15 miles on the mt bike.

     4 mile run 8:27 pace.

     I'm definitly not in race shape right now. I haven't run much under 7:00 pace since my ITB injury in January and very little under 6:30 pace but the race was not to far from home and cheep so I figured it would be some good faster miles. On their website it said the 10k started at 7:30 and the 5k and the mile would start soon after. I didn't have much time to warm up so I was just running back and forth behind the crowd waiting for the 10k to start then move up to the start line and get a good spot to start the 5k. I couldn't hear what they were saying on the bull horn about the race while warming up. The 10k started and I realized everybody was going. They had started all three races at once. So I was behind over 500 people running the 5k, 10k, and kids doing the mile on a narrow road. It took me 14 seconds to get to the start line. I started my garmin as I crossed the start line [it was not chip timed] and started trying to get through a mass of people and strollers that were walking in the rear and running slowly farther up. By the time I was getting faster than 8 min pace and could see some daylight the lead vehicle was way ahead. The race was mostly uphill climbing 208 feet net until the turnaround and then back down the same course. After the slow start I finished the first mile in 6:40 after passing tons of people all the way. The second mile I finished in 6:35, a bit slow since it was only half uphill but I think I used a lot on the first mile trying to make up for the bad start. By the end of 2 miles I just had a guy and girl in sight ahead of me that didn't seem to be coming back to me at all. I knew from the turnaround that there weren't any old guys in my age group ahead of me so I was content to just hang out there. They seemed too far ahead and I didn't feel like pushing to hard today but as we got down to the last 1/2 mile they started coming back and I passed the 1st place female [kept from getting chicked]. I finished mile 3 in 5:47 and I continued to gain on the other guy and passed him with about 200 to go. Right after I passed him he had several buddies holering and shouting for him to pass me back but I decided that wasn't happening and kicked it in hard and ran the final .1 at 4:30 pace beating him easily. My final 1.1 was 5:37 pace. Final time on my garmin was 19:25. Clock time was 19:39. This had to be a PR for me for most people passed in a race. I figure I passed around 500 without getting passed by anyone. I finished first in the 40 to 49 age group and won free entry into next years race and 5th overall according to card they gave me at the end. I thought I was 10th at the turn around and I expected to be 6th or 7th.