I only run on days that end in a "y."

50 degrees with a strong breeze.  I have not run this race in 4 years I think.  I was always in marathon training and didn't want to race.  This course is around the IBM campus and the Domain - a large shopping area.  There are quite a few turns and loop arounds in order to get 10k.  The course is mostly flat but has some good gentle up and downs.  There is also a 5k option and there is a point in the course where the 5k finishes and the 10k keeps going.  Man, I really wanted to stop at the 5k mark!

The cool weather was great but the wind did play a factor.  There were a couple stretches where I tucked in behind someone even though I had to run a bit slower.  Between miles 3-4 a runner I know, Jonathan, and I took turns to block the wind for each other.  I was glad he came along because he really helped me out here.  By the end of mile 4 though I started pulling away.  Mile 5-6 I felt pretty strong and even thought there was a mild incline here I managed to pass a few runners here, including Kip.  I hit mile 6 around 36:40ish I think so I knew I had sub 38!  I started cruising here and then out of nowhere Kip and another runner, Mani, that I had passed went sprinting by with about 100m to go.  Well, of course, I had to follow and tried to keep up.  It's hard to make up time when someone flies by like that.  In retrospect, I am glad they did, because they unknowingly got me where I needed to be.

Looking back at the splits, I wish I could have mile 2 back.  Not sure what happened there but I left at least 10 seconds out there.  Well, I am pretty confident I can run a sub 18:00 5k looking at these splits. 

6:05, 6:12, 6:00, 5:56, 5:57, 5:55, 5:20.

My watch says 6.33 miles, but everyone else that I ran with had 6.24.  Hmmm.

Anyway - a 1 minute and 3 second PR!! 

(Updated time to official chip time of 37:52) 

nice and easy recovery miles - traveling to Lima Peru for business this week.  Probably not much time for running.

Finally got a chance to run  here - 9 miles with a couple along the costal hills of Lima.  

I am glad I am not training for a marathon so I dont have to obsess about getting my miles in. 

Arrived yesterday back from Lima.  I had planned on getting a run in when I got into Austin.  Unfortunately, my flight did not leave Lima until 2 am and my sleep on the plane was not that great.  It's only a 6 hour flight to Houston, so I may have slept 5 hours but I woke up several times.  By the time I got into Austin around noon I was toast.  

When the alarm went off this morning I felt that I could have easily slept 3 more hours.  But I managed to get myself out of bed to show up for the workout.  

This was a tough one due to several factors - it was warm and humid again, lack of complete rest, the guys I ran with went out too fast, and I think I was still recovering a bit from the 10k.  I could feel it in my legs during the 1k's.

The plan was to run 3k @ HMP, 2k @ HMP - 10 seconds, and 3 x 1k @ 10k pace.  

I ran about 2.5 miles warm up and then we started the 3k.  This felt fairly easy but I knew we were running too fast.  I tried to slow the other 2 guys down but to no avail.  We ended up running the 3k at 6:00 pace - and the course was marked out by the coaches and it was long.  So all the of repeats ended up being long distance wise.  We ran a loop which consisted of road, pathway, cutting through some grass and then back on a road.  Side note: I have to say I like running repeats on the track only because these are more mentally challenging.  I know this will pay off during races though, since those races are on roads and not a track.

For the 2k I stayed with the guys and when they were going faster then my target pace I slowed down a bit and finished with 6:10 pace average, right where I wanted it.

The 1k did not go so well as I finished with the guys and we ran a 5:44 pace, the next one I fell back and ran around a 6:05 pace.  My legs were shot at this point. 

After dying on the 2nd 1k I decided to call it a day.  I didn't think there was anything to gain by trying to get through 1 more.  I ran a couple easy cool down miles. 

3k (1.92 miles) in 11:27 (6:00 pace) (too fast!)

2k (1.37 miles) in 8:25 (6:10 pace) (good pace here)

1k (.65 miles) in 3:42 (5:44 pace)  (too fast!)

1k (.65 miles) in 4:00 (6:09 pace) (I died on this one.)