I had a better than expected run this morning. My expectations were a little bit low for a number of annoying reasons - dog waking me up early, a few random aches/pains, and lower GI not feeling quite right. Fortunately, those things kind of melted away after the two mile warm up. It was a really nice morning out. I did the warm up starting in the Y parking lot out and back a mile each way. I saw the cross country kids (who often start at the Y parking lot) heading out onto the ball fields. I was worried that they were going to do track work today and not let me in (although the coach is a nice guy and would probably be ok with that). But it turned out they were just doing laps around the fields barefoot. I got to the track to find the gate locked - the first time ever, so I climbed over it (feeling a little guilty). Today my goal was 4 X 1600 @ 6:17 - one more repeat than last time and a slightly faster goal pace. First repeat felt very hard (especially the first 2 laps), made me think that I could not do it which made me think I must be doing the right pace. So, I picked them off one at a time and kept going through willpower (the consistent training of course helps!). It was a very beautiful morning. I made my goal splits (and a little extra): 6:09, 6:06, 6:08, 6:06 I changed directions on each repeat so as not to irritate my IT band. It is amazing how far off the garmin is when going clockwise around the track. The counterclockwise runs lined up perfrectly with the garmin. For the clockwise runs the garmin said I "finished" the mile in 5:28 but I didn't really get to the finish for another 40 seconds later! Well, it is nice to see those 5:28's and think "maybe someday". So, the thing I really like about the track is that it is what it is. It's not quite like doing a race but is similar. There is no arguing about whether the garmin was right or the course was right or if the treadmill is calibrated accurately. You just go around the track x number of times and that's it. Did some very easy running to cool down. I drove home (did not bike this morning to give myself a small break which I felt guilty about). I got into the pool for a little bit and rescued a tiny baby ringneck snake who had fallen it and could not get out. Yesterday my wife rescued a small painted turtle who was taking a dangerously long time to cross a busy street.
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