The Long Run

6.03 mi, 1:00:48, 10:05 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood.  Left my house before 6:45 so I could drop off Jamie's garmin charger before the run - so I ended up getting in a little longer run.  Joe did not join us due to running the Celebration marathon yesterday where he won his age group.

Jessica and her kids stayed at my house so I made sure to stay on schedule and get back home before 7:45 and drove the older kids to school before heading to work.

4.52 mi, 40:00, 8:51 avg

I went to the Y so I could use the leg extension machine and ride on the stationary bike for a bit.  This is my old knee remedy.  Do this 2 or 3 times a week.  Also will be good if I do some more downhill running.

After the bike and leg extensions I had a nice 40 minute run on the treadmill. 

Sadly, they have gotten rid of all of the yellow treadmills which were capable of a 2% downhill grade which I had used for training for the Super Tunnel Marathon in Washington.

5.44 mi, 52:41, 9:41 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood on usual t-shaped route.  Was nice and cool out.

On the drive to my house I was able to see the Super blue blood lunar eclipse.  It was pretty amazing to see.  I had actually forgotten about the eclipse at first.  It looked like a piece was missing from the moon but it was supposed to be full so I was confused until I remembered later about the eclipse.

Post run, push-ups: 25-25-30, pull-ups: 10-10-14

7.27 mi, 59:58, 8:15 avg

I went right from Jessica's house to Longleaf so I could run on the Starkey Blvd bike path.  I was going to bring a gel for the halfway point but I forgot.  Nice morning so I didn't really need water or anything.  Was good to run non-stop.  First mile was 10:14, last mile was 7:09, with last 4 miles at 7:39 average.

Felt really good overall, no knee problems today.

While I was running Jenny had called to say she had a flat tire and to see if I could drive Tom to school.  I was only about 3 minutes away, so stopped by her house to pick him up, then dropped him off at school.  She was also able to use the combo jump starter/tire inflator I had bought Andy for Christmas to inflate the spare which was also flat.

5.62 mi, 55:43, 9:55 avg

Easy run in the neighborhood with Jamie.  Slower pace throughout with a small pick up for the last 0.62 miles (8:21 pace).

Post run: push-ups 25,35; pull-ups - did Jacob's routine with 6 each which I completed without a questionable rep at the end.  After a short rest tried a max set but only got 11 this time.

Race stats: 13.09 mi, 1:42:56, 7:52 avg

(warm-up: 0.79 mi, 8:05, 10:11 avg)

Ran the half-marathon in Safety Harbor.  No expectations other than to try and push myself a reasonable amount.  Hoping for 1:40-1:45.  Felt pretty good going out, much better than at the start at NYC marathon.  First mile was 7:57, then had 5 good miles averaging in the low 7:30's.  For mile 7 slowed down a little then even more when I stopped to take a gel, next two miles I missed being under 8:00 and then found one more mile sub 8:00 at 7:44.  On track for another sub-8:00 but slowed down too much on a hill.  After mile 10 I mentally felt done as in "10 good miles is good enough", this made it really tough to even stay faster then 9:00 pace. 

Fortunately, Strider friend Rudy came up behind me, gave some encouragement and said something about locking onto a pace.  He pulled ahead of me but I was able to just concentrate on him and soon forgot about my slow pace and caught up.  We ran together for a bit.  He said his brain was getting fuzzy.  I pulled ahead a little bit hoping he'd hang on with me.  My last mile was finally back under 8:00 (7:53), which was slower than last years last mile but was more of a pick back up than last year.

My new garmin told me I had two PRs today, fastest half and fastest 10k (new garmin knows how to make me feel good).  I haven't run this pace for 13 miles since quite some time ago (maybe last spring?).  I've got some work cut out for me and had some good mental practice at staying in the game.

Lots of fun hanging out afterward with big group from the Striders.