The Long Run

1.11 mi, 12:37, 11:21 avg

Legs still stiff from Saturday's race (they were pretty good on Sunday but on Monday the delayed soreness set in).

First half of the run was a struggle but it was easy on the way back (basically ran out to the gate and back).

Overall, this short run seemed to do the trick restarting.

4.23 mi, 37:30, 8:51 avg

Ran on Starkey Blvd bike path starting from the little Longleaf church.  Although yesterday's run made me feel like I could run again, the first mile this morning felt otherwise but then I was ok.

I've been trying out one fast mile each week, thought about skipping it but wanted to get it down.  So, once the 4th mile started I picked it up to what felt like the 6:30's, glanced down at my watch and saw 6:35 (good!), about 30 seconds later I looked again and saw 6:52 (not so good), I then thought about scrapping it, then argued to just try even if my pace slipped and I could only run 7:20.  So, with that argument out of the way I settled back in and slowly saw the pace drop until I finally finished at 6:24.

I had been worried about getting back to sub-20:00 5k pace without even being able to run a mile at that pace, but now there's one less thing to worry about.  The challenge, the doubt, and overcoming the doubt was what I needed today.

5.18 mi, 44:35, 8:37 avg

Out and back from my house, past the golf course and then down Trinity Blvd just past what was supposed to be the water blending facility.  A little bit farther than yesterday's run, faster average pace, but not an all out last mile.  Pretty good run today.

5.54 mi, 56:23, 10:10 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, usual t-shaped route.  Slower pace, taking it easy and kept it conversational.  There was an armadillo that would not get out of the way at first, finally did but then ran parallel with us but through the bushes, making a lot of noise, but we finally outran him/her.

10.01 mi, 1:33:51, 9:23 avg

Ran with Joe, Jamie, Daisy, Cynthia and Leah at Longleaf, heading north up Starkey Blvd to the entrance of Starkey Park and then back to the start with a pit stop at Diane's house (saw Diane riding her bike with Craig and said hi).  Return trip was with Jamie and Cynthia.

After the run sat down and chatted with Keith at Havana Dreamers.  Hadn't seen him for a while, good to catch up.

In the afternoon, saw Thomas run in the Sunshine Athletic Conference West championship held at Cypress Creek High School.  Mitchell (both boys and girls teams) won their conference.  He ran 5:01.99 in the 1600m and 11:24.40 in the 3200m.  The splits for his 1600 were very even but the time and place was not what he had hoped for.   Scored 3 points for the team on the 1600 and 4 points on the 3200.

Next up is Districts, same location as conference this coming Friday.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.