The Long Run

8.56 mi, 1:20:27, 9:24 avg

Memorial Day run with the Striders.  Left my house about 6:30 and met Jamie at the gate near Duck Slough, then we ran to Longleaf in time for the group photo.  We had at least 40 people this year.  Ran out and back on Starkey Blvd with Joe, Renee, and Cynthia and other random people from the Striders.  They had all sorts of fun food and drinks and some healthy fruit.  Hung out for just a few minutes before running back home.

3.13 mi, 27:11, 8:41 avg

Cobbled together about 5k of running.  Started with about 0.5 miles with Stella running up and down the street for a warmup.  Next, ran out and back to the gate for another 1 mile.  Then moved onto 9x25 seconds strides with 50 second jogs.  I was going to just do 5, but added some on and on the last one I promised myself I would not make myself do ten this time - although I should have!  I almost ran all of them under 6:00 pace - somehow on the second one the pace was 6:01.  It's a pretty good improvement from back in December where I could only run one of the ten under 6:00 pace.

5.08 mi, 46:26, 9:09 avg, 108 feet

I got pretty wet on this run.  Sure, it felt nice at first, a very light sprinkle you could hardly feel, making the warm humid air more bearable.  I ran a couple loops around the Westlake Village Park and then ran up and over the hill at Woodcutter and Lakeview before heading back on Lakeview, past the house, then turned around and ran up and over the Woodcutter hill until reaching one mile away from the house.  At this point rain had picked up and was now pouring down, ran back toward the house again until getting just over 5 miles for the morning.  Now I was wet, but it was all good.

2.54 mi, 21:40, 8:32 avg, no climbing

Insurance run.  Wanted to run in the evening if I could get my end of month work done early enough but was not sure if that was going to happen so I went out for a little bit.  Foxwood neighborhood run, first 0.8 miles with Stella, then ran one loop around the neighborhood. First mile average was 10:20.   Then, for a fun run I had the idea to keep running until the average got below 9:00.   I was able to reach that and then kept on going for a little bit after that.  So, next mile was 7:22 but was not looking at pace until I had finished the mile.  Last 0.54 stayed at 7:22, so must have found a groove.  Easy to do I suppose when you know it's just for a little bit.  Just need to extend that out another 24.66 miles or so and I could run another good marathon!

4.38 mi, 34:02, 7:46 avg

Broken up run in the neighborhood.  Ran Stella for a little over half a mile, then ran to Joe's house to let his dog out, once I got there I accidentally stopped and saved the run (first part was 1.8 miles at 8:17 avg), then ran back home and up and down the street a little past my house (2.04 miles at 7:25 avg).  After finishing and going back inside I noticed that my total was 3.84 miles, so why not at least get over 4 miles for the morning.  So, I ran out about a 1/4 mile, then came back running fast to run some sub-7:00 which turned into almost sub-6:00 with 1:31 for the return 1/4.

13.03 mi. 2:00:06, 9:13 avg

Ran with Joe, Jamie, and Renee from Longleaf to Diane's house where we picked up Craig and Diane.  Ran from there to Starkey, stopping at the shelter briefly before turning back.  On the way into the park I talked everyone into an a few sets of an "Indian run" or sometimes called last man sprint or leap frogs.  Everyone complains at first, but then they seem to have fun and some distance paces and the overall pace picks up.  

I was feeling pretty good until about mile 11 when the mugginess of the morning caught up to me, I stopped for a bit, then started again but went slower for mile 12.  Joe and Renee went ahead.  I felt better once we finished mile 12 and got back to the old  pace and even picked it up slightly for mile 13.

Picked up Tom and Andy from Jenny's about 12:00 and took them to lunch at Tarpon Tavern - Andy picked it but it's one of my favorites.  I wanted to live there one time - mile 36 of the 46 mile Pinellas Trail Challenge has an aid station there.  Great to spend time with my two favorite boys.