faster with age

     I went out this morning planning to go 8 or maybe 10 miles but it was so nice out and I felt really good so I ended up with 12. There is supposed to be another storm moving in this afternoon and for the next few days so I took advantage the nice day while I could. I kept it easy and really didn't feel like I had done a race Saturday. I've been feeling a bit low on energy on a lot of my runs the past 2 or 3 weeks so it was nice to have good energy today. It was tempting to run faster but I kept it to an 8:11 overall pace and just enjoyed.

     6 easy miles at 8:33 AP.

     Very nice morning for running. I started with a 4 mile progression run starting at around 8:10 first mile to 7:09 4th mile. Then I did 8x200 with 200 rec over the next 2 miles. 2 more miles at 7:23 ave pace. My energy level seems better on all my runs this week than it has been for the past 2 or 3 weeks. 7:26 overall ave pace for 8.

     6 easy miles on a very nice morning. Maybe we'll finally get a few nice spring days before the temps go straight into the 90s.

     I would have liked to run the half today but it has been sold out for months so I ran the 5K. We spent the night at my parents home in Sandy. The temp was in the 40s for the 7 o'clock start. The first 400 meters of the course is on a narrow road and then turns onto a bike path. There were around 850 people in the race and I wanted to make sure I wasn't behind too many people once I hit the trail so I took off pretty quick.By the time I hit the path I was in 4th place which was a surprise. I expected somebody to pass me that I could latch onto but nobody ever did. The 3 ahead of me kept getting farther ahead so I was on my own. I hit the first mile in 5:55. Halfway through the next mile, the next guy in front of me started to come back. Once I caught him he seemed to slow and let me pass then fell in behind and started drafting. I picked up the pace a bit and he hung right with me for a while but eventually I could tell he was dropping. I finished mile 2, which always seems to be my slowest in a 5k, in 6:06. Almost all of the final mile is pancake flat and completely straight up grant street. I felt like I could run a little faster here than on the bike path which has a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs but it does seem to last forever since you can see the finish line the entire way. It felt like I had a slight headwind here for a ways. The next guy ahead of me was up 40 seconds and the guy behind me had dropped back so there was nobody to push me. I ran the last 1.11  [according to my garmin] at 5:56 pace and finished in 18:38 and 5:59 ave pace.

     For finishing 3rd overall I got a nice plaqe and then was surprized to also get a $200 Suunto HR moniter watch and a free pair of Aascics running shoes. I have never placed near that high in that large a race but I guess all the best runners were in the half or full mar. My 5k pr is 18:16 but that was at the Magna 5k wich is a much faster course. When I ran that time 2 years ago I had run this same Ogden race the week before in 18:59 so I think this course is around 35 to 40 seconds slower but my time was only 22 seconds slower. I think I could make a good argument that this could be my best 5k. I have a goal to set all new PRs now that I'm 50.