Doing What I Can

Ran the DSM Marathon 5k today. Course seemed long as I felt really good and had a lot left. I also felt like I was steady around 17:30 pace, or at least that was what the effort seemed like. Ended up with a weird finish, thought the first set of mats were the finish and I slowed up, yet I still held off the guy right behind me, but for some reason the official scoring had him in 4th and me in 5th? Maybe my slowup in my confusion allowed him to sneak his foot with the chip on it to the finish line before I got mine there...weird stuff. Absolutely ideal conditions for racing, 46 degrees with no wind. Splits:

 1- 5:46.8

2- 5:48.8 (11:35, 5:47.5 avg)

last 1.1--6:30.2 (5:50-5:55 avg)

TOTAL--18:04, 5:50 avg pace

Overall, I felt good and picked off a lot of people after mile 1, which was nice, I ran really steady pace throughout...however, I still think it was long. They did change the route this year, and I just felt like i ran better than 18's. O well. It was a fun race.

long run of 10 miles today, the weather was perfect! right around 60 with no humidity or wind. Felt very nice! Ran it pretty quick given I ran a race yesterday, actually hit 5 miles at technically GMP. Splits:

1- 7:18.7

2- 6:55.6

3- 7:09.1

4- 7:10.4

5- 6:59.1

6- 6:57.4

7- 7:06.8

8- 7:19.0 (big uphill)

9 & 10- 13:56 (6:58 avg, didnt get the 9 mile mark)

TOTAL-- 1:10:52, 7:05 avg pace

Overall, very happy with this run, doing a workout and hitting 10 miles under 1:11 is a good sign that I am getting in better shape, not to mention I ran a race yesterday and totalled 6.6 yesterday. Pretty good day all around!

4 easy miles today. the weather was perfect for running again tho so I couldn't really slow down and shake my legs out. Felt pretty good regardless. Splits:

1- 7:12.4

2- 7:15.1

3- 7:08.6

4- 7:03

TOTAL-- 28:39, 7:10 avg pace

tempo today. 4 miles was the distance. Goal was 24:40, ended up being under it. Would have ran it in probably 24:10-24:15 if not for the incredible wind. Everytime I turned West I got blasted with 25-30 mph constant wind. Definitely slowed down my times on certain miles. Splits:

1- 5:58.4

2- 6:10.5

3- 6:15.6

4- 6:07.1

TOTAL-- 24:31, 6:08 avg

Overall, I am actually quite happy with this run. Although my 2 and 3 miles werent were they needed to be, they were also the most exposed to the wind, which slowed me down incredibly. The last mile even had a good stretch into the wind, so I think that 6:07 translates into at least 5:50 as I was hammering it down into the wind. To be honest, this run today probably helped me improve more than the same course on a calm day because I had to push myself a lot--and i know very well that race day conditions can be unpredictable so its good to be prepared for anything.

4 easy ones on a beautiful iowa fall morning. 

1- 7:32.8

2- 7:06.0

3- 7:26.6

4- 7:24.8

TOTAL-- 29:30, 7:22.5 avg

broke out the new shoes today for a pre-race 2 miles. 14:46, 7:23 avg.

Today was the race for the cure. i have the goal each year of getting a medal which is the top 25. This year i finished 7th but the course was way long. The winner, a kenyan who usually runs thi15:20s ran 17:52. Plus, I havent ran this slow since jr high. So when I got home I measured it online at usatf website and indeed the course was 3.5 miles. Kind of disappointing to put in a lot of effort for a long race...nonetheless one that was so much off of 5k. Still a good cause and I like doing this race cuz of that.

update: race results website confirmed that the course was long, they came out and said 3.42 miles. So officially not a 5k.