Step by step, mile by mile

Not a great start to the day. Original workout was gonna be 1x2 mile, 2x1 mile on the roads. Well yesterday we had pie for dessert and I ate a lot of it. I don't usually eat sugary stuff, so I felt pretty crappy today. I tried to get going a couple times, would get maybe a third of a mile in, and stop because I knew I wasn't feeling well enough to hold it. I did manage to get a mile in on Aggie. I pushed the pace, but didn't go all out. 4:50. I might try a short easier tempo workout this evening.

AM - 7. My achilles hurt after yesterdays morning run, I guess running my second fastest mile ever, in trainers, on a road, comes back to haunt. I massaged it all during church and throughout the day. I slept in a bit today, got going around 7:30. Did the rec loop/canal with some strides. Legs felt pretty trashy but felt better as I progressed. Avg  pace 6:49. I need to work on my hips, they've been hurting while I run lately.

A big S/O to my good friend Nick Hill, aka Hell Raiser, who leaves on his mission to El Salvador tomorrow! He was the first person to ever add me to their favorites. Good guy. 

AM - my alarm didn't go off so I was late for work. Only managed to get three in during break. 6:58 avg pace.

Warmed up 5 miles. Went to the track and found out football was already there. So I drove to the park and measured out a quarter mile loop. It involved both a 90 and 180 degree turn. Ran 4x400 @5k pace. I wanted to hit 75-77's, but I kept worrying the turns would slow me down so I'd speed up. Equal recovery. 70, 69, 71, then took off my shoes and did a 63. I felt kind of trash from the start of the warm up so these times were good. Cooled down for 12 miles @ 7:08 pace. On the cooldown these little kids were yelling at me, and calling me some quite colorful derogatory terms. lol I worry about our country's future more and more every day

Neither of my alarms went off this morning. I woke up 20 minutes late, and couldn't find my keys for another 20 minutes. So I got to practice, and the team had already done a mile repeat. I warmed up maybe half a mile and did the 3 other repeats with the boys. Wet grass, 5 90 degree turns, 2 180 degree turns, and 15 miles with speed yesterday make for not great times today. Times weren't awful though. I immediately was able to jog around until the next repeat so I know I wasn't going hard. First half mile of the first one Clayton and I battled it out for a while. We both died pretty hard. Splits went 5:09, 5:12, and 5:14. Ran all of them alone after maybe 200m so I wasn't too motivated. Cooled down with Kenny and Clayton, where they played Pokemongo the entire time smh.

Ran a little over 5 more in the blazing heat in the afternoon. Avg pace 6:48. Did strength training after. After a while this college girl came and asked if she could do my workout with me. I told her I was about to leave, so left a little early. Just ended up going upstairs for the rest of it.

AM - 5 miles hilly. Pushed the hills a little. 6:58 avg pace Iced in the canal after.

PM - Warmed up from the church to the track, did a lap, ran 6 strides, did a pretty relaxed 400m in 70, and cooled down back. Got myself a granola bar and some coconut water because I deserved it. It's crazy hot out. I felt pretty sluggish the first mile of the WU then progressively felt better. 5 miles @ 6:39 pace. I feel really good about tomorrow(race day)!

Ugh. Had to wake up at 4:30am for work. Got off at about 6, ran 3 miles on aggie, 6:57 avg pace. Did one easy stride. I discovered the finish for the race tonight. Now I just gotta find the start line... Went to bed again at 7:30 and woke up at noon. So I got like 12 hours of sleep.

RACE

I had to stay at work for a really long time and didn't get to really eat all that much today. I had a ten minute break at about 5:30 where I was able to squeeze in a quick meal. Got to the course at 8:20. For the first time ever they actually measured out a 5k correctly on Aggie, normally it's either 2.9 or 3.2. Did a couple strides, put on my bib, and got to the starting line. Long ceremony. The starting gun was an assault rifle which I found funny. Anyway gun goes off and I take off at a good pace. Suddenly this guy who looked just like Lagat gets right on my shoulder and starts like pushing me! Looking at my watch I think we hit a 65 second first 400. Ugh. The guy died about a third a mile in, but had put me in such a predicament that I felt pretty crappy by now. Hit the first mile at 5:03. Ugh. Felt way worse than it should have. Hit the first turnaround and the Lagat guy is probably two minutes behind me. Mason and Kedric weren't too far off though. After maybe 2/3rds of a mile into the race my stomach started to feel real bad, I was sure I'd puke. Ugh. Really suffered through a 5:47 second mile. I was able to recover during the second mile and kick the last 1.1 in 6:08 to win in a 16:58. Really wasn't a great race for me, 1-2.75 felt like a trudge. But, a PR and win so no complaints. Cooled down on the course backwards. Saw the Lagat guy, and despite REALLY wanting to say something snarky to him, I told him "good job" to which he shot me a dirty look. I won by about a minute, Mason got second with a high 17, Kedric got third. The people who put this race together did an awsome job.

AM - 5 miles of regret for not stretching yesterday. Avg pace 7:30.