Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Sweet, nice run. I'm thinking we should definitely start together for the race, somewhere around 7:00 pace.

I think that might work, but tell me what you think about this. I've been looking at use a pace planner that would have me starting out at 7:18 on miles 1-5, 6:58 for miles 6-20, and 7:03 for miles 21 to finish. That would have me finishing in 3:05. I know you were planning a sub 3. Is that still your plan?

I like the idea of starting slower, although I think I would be uneasy about being 75 seconds behind my goal at mile 5 if I were in your shoes, then having to play catch up, although it might work. It would be kinda like getting in 5 freebe warmup miles.

I was looking at the profile and it seemed a bit hilly, is that right? Smartest thing might be to just take what the hills give you (6:50s on the downs, 7:10s on the ups or something like that).

As far as my race, I have no idea right now what I can do since my running has been all over the place. Plan is just to start conservatively (7:00-ish) and see what my legs want to do from there. Maybe speed up, maybe not!

That's why I run these things by you first. I'm sure you are right about taking what the hills give you. I have not run this course either in training or in 2010 as it has been changed.

I looked at the elevation map and besides some short steep sections in the first 5, it looks like miles 13.5 through 15 are pretty steep. Ditto for miles 18 to 20.5. The pacing plan is probably out the window. I think I'm comfortable starting out at a 7:00ish pace.

I will probably park across the street from Fleet Feet in the Blue Dome district and walk to the start since parking down town pretty much sucks.

My plan when I bq'd was just to make sure I was ahead of, or even with, the 7-minute guy at each mile marker. The math was easy that way, and I knew that I could still afford to slow down a little if I needed to, since 7-min pace gives you 3:03:something. But that was Houston where it was completely flat...

Anyway, I will text you my number...let's definitely try to meet up, at least the morning of the race, or at the starting line. Thanks for the tip on parking!

You're welcome. I've parked in this same place a few times for the Tulsa Run, which starts in about the same area as the Route 66 starting line. The only difference is the Route 66 finish line is a little further away from the parking lot, but I was thinking about taking one of the shuttles back to the Hyatt Regency and walking back from there.