The Long Run

10.13@8:25

As promised, 10 miles instead of 13 and eased off the 8:00 pace until later in the run - mile 1 was 9:54, miles 8, 9, and 10 were  8:03, 7:53,  7:40

Hopefully it was easy enough so I can run a decent 5k tomorrow.

PHSC 5k

chip time: 20:26, 21st overall, 2nd age group

Finally!  Sub-21:00.  Same race last year I thought I had it but came in right at 21:00

Did an easy mile warm up and a few strides, weather was a little bit warmer than it had been at 72 degrees which would've felt cooler in the summer.  Out of the start line I felt pretty good and tried to stay relaxed.  Ryan K was there and it first wasn't too far ahead of me.  I thought about trying to hang onto him as long as I could but decided to just concentrate on my own race and pace.

First mile 6:36, good!  Not sub-20:00 pace but pretty solid sub-21:00.   Second mile at 6:43.  Slipped a little but still on track, just don't fall apart.  And finally third mile 6:42, a slight improvement but more importantly not a significant slowdown like I've done at many 5Ks.

Tom was there and scored another sub-16:00.  But today had some pretty competivie runners and first place person came in at 15:37.

Age groups were at 10 years, so Ryan got first place with his 19:10.  Trying to hang with him could've been a disaster but who knows.  Feeling like sub-20:00 is more possible than in recent memory.

It was a pretty fun morning with lots of the the usual people I see at races and a few I hadn't seen for a while.

Walk 1.42 miles, bike 4.55 miles 

Westlake Village

6.68@8:14

Decided to stick with the schedule speedwork even though I ran the 5k on Sunday (but at the cost of not doing the 13 mile MP run the day before).

5x1k with splits: 3:57, 3:52, 3:53, 3:51, 3:49

Although these paces are not at all easy, I'm feeling more confident when I do them.  Goal pace was 4:03/km.   If I'm struggling I either miss the paces or just barely get them with some of it too slow and a big sprint near the end to try and make the time.

AM  - walk 2.25 miles

PM - 3.02@9:55 - humpday hustle with Evan and Daisy

6.14@8:01

Warm up, 2 easy miles (9:31, 8:53), then 3 @ 7:10 (goal), with actual splits at 7:08, 7:08, 6:47.  Was not looking at split for that last mile until it was done.  Good taper run.

Big Bear Half Marathon

Chip time: 1:36:42, Garmin distance: 13.11 (can't get much closer)

This was supposed to be the full marathon, but at 2:30 am they sent out a text canceling the full and offering free entry to the half and race credit for a future race.

Start was in the mid 20's, I was afraid I'd get too cold in the almost 1 hour of pre-race standing around but it wasn't so bad with the various layers.  I wasn't full in half marathon mode but did ok at switching gears.  This course is extremely downhill but felt more runnable than Big Cottonwood (I might've had a different story if I did the full version of this race).  

Good but not too fast first mile at 7:32, then next 6 miles a steady pickup to 7:09 for mile 7.

My hands were kind of freezing and I had trouble adjusting volume on my headphones so kind of ignored that issue.  Was mindful of the possibility of ice at the water stops but fortunately did not hit any.

During mile 8, grabbed a drink and washed down a gel at an aid station, slowed down a little too much and almost felt like I was going to lock up, but fortunately back on track after mile 8 (7:46), mile 9 was 7:16.  

Held it together pretty well through mile 12 (7:26), but then did not intently focus on giving it my all for mile 13, not looking at mile pace, ended up with 7:42 - probably could've done better since that last mile was back at an elevation I'm more used to.

So, overall this was a fun race.  With a little more focus I think I could've reasonably been sub 1:36:00 (which in times past would've been a good for time entry to NYC marathon but now that is no longer the case).

After the race checked out of hotel and headed back to my brother's house in Carlsbad for dinner out and a full next day of exploring Borrego Springs area of the dessert.

Colt 45 Silver (45K) Trail Race

Just one week out from Big Bear half, legs finally recovered from the extreme downhill beat down.

Surprisingly cold Florida morning (just a touch under 30 degrees at the start).

This race is usually at Colt Creek State Park and is a great training run before the Long Haul 100 also at Colt Creek.  But this year park was still flooded from hurricanes, and thanks to a very resourceful race director he set up a race course at the Two Mile Prairie (two loops for the 45K, they had a one loop race , all the way up to 100k).

I ran pretty steady and ended up doing some leap frog with another runner named Mark who was coincidentally running with his wife Jenny.  Eventually I got ahead of Mark and somehow ended up with 3rd place overall male and 5th overall.

Maybe it was better that last week was not a full marathon.