I talked with Paul Pilkington and decided to do a training run today during the half marathon instead of racing it. I ran 5 miles before the race for a nice little warmup. I ran over to pick up my packet and just get the legs loosened up. My legs are still recovering from last week so I decided to do the first 9 miles at 5:40-5:50 pace and then throw in some tempo miles for the last 4. I started out with Cody and did a mile or so with him and then eventually caught up to Walter and ran with him until mile 9. I then kicked it in and ran the last 4 miles in: 5:09, 5:13, 5:20, and 5:11. I ended up doing the whole race in 5:33/mile overall. I felt fine after the race and was glad that I didn't race it. I saw the winning time and knew I could have hit that today. I ended up passing 6 guys in the last 4.10 miles so I got a little bit of "racing" in for the day. I am really shooting for my PR at the Strider's Half on April 5th. I did a 2.4 mile cooldown after the race while going back and running in with Nick Froerer from the blog. He had a good race today. The course today had a lot of uphill and it didn't bother my legs to much. I am very happy about that. It was good seeing some of the Fast Running Bloggers down here as well. Katey and I met up with Paul, Stacy, David Nelson, Cody, Bethany, Ben, and Anna to indulge on some brugers. I had some chicken and only got the leftovers of Paul's bruger but it was worth it. It was yummy! Nothing like eating a hamburger with a bratwurst at the same time. | 