The Long Run

4.32 mi, 38:35, 8:56 avg, 113 feet elev.

Westlake Village run - ran the Village Way loop and then did out and back on Lakeview Drive so I could go up and over the hill.

7.4 mi, 1:06:58, 9:03 avg, elev gain 163 feet

Zigzagged through Westlake village to hit some of the hills, then exited onto Nebraska Ave, until turning left on Omaha Ave.  I was going to head south for a while until reaching 3.5 miles, but instead when I got to Florida Ave, I looked to the right and had a clear view of the flag pole outside of Pop Stansell Park and could see the water of St Joseph Sound and the Gulf, so headed that way.  Ran out onto the little pier where some guys were fishing and stopped to look out over the water before turning around and heading back the way I came.  It was a bit warm this morning and I did not carry anything to drink nor did I bring any money to stop at a store - I'll have to not do that again.

6.19 mi, 56:03, 9:04 avg

Ran in Foxwood neighborhood with Joe and Jamie.  Jamie canceled so it was just Joe and I.  Good run, but it felt very muggy (it rained a little bit later which explained it).  We saw a little alligator past the bridge.  This little guy had been hanging out in an ever shrinking puddle until there was only a little water left by the drain - but now it is filled back up.  We also saw another little gator (this one even smaller) in the pond near the Heritage Springs gate.  As for land animals we saw an armadillo and a rabbit as well as the usual array of squirrels.

On the way back into Foxwood we ran into Jamie who had decided to at least get in a couple of miles.

6.45 mi, 58:36, 9:05 avg, elev gain 60 feet

Did an out and back run from Westlake village from the northern entrance, west on Alderman to where it dead ends, then further west on another street that dead ends but has a little cut through to the Pinellas Trail.  North on the Pinellas trail to Wall Springs park, then did a little loop inside the park with a stop at one of the little wooden piers (pier #2).  Looked into the water and saw a school of fish, mostly mullet but also a few sheepshead.  They looked like they were enjoying the morning.   Ran back out the way I came but headed north on the Pinellas trail just a little bit more, almost to the old railroad tunnel before turning back.

Temperature felt much nice today (75 vs yesterday's 79), and I brought a little hand held bottle.

4.11 mi, 37:54, 9:13 avg, elev gain 70 feet

Very unmotivated to start running but decided to at least get some miles, meaning at least 3, which fortunately turned into 3.  Found and took the secret cut through out of the neighborhood which makes running to the Palm Harbor Y only about a mile (otherwise almost 2 miles without the cut through).  Ran along Nebraska, back into Westlake village from the south entrance, looped through the park and then one more loop on Maple Ridge back to the house.

Purposely went a little slower today.  Going to give 5k a try tomorrow morning at RAP River run.

This was my first 5k since December when I did the Say No To Drugs 5k in Clearwater, where I could not get under 22:00.  So, it was good to take a chance and sign up for this race as well as asking if Thomas wanted to run this one as well (we both ran the Turkey Trot, where I ended up having a decent time there "in the 20:00's").

It was lucky that the weather was a little better than usual, relatively "cool" for a June race in Florida and it's a mostly shaded course, pretty flat but a few very small hills which prevent it from being overly flat.  Warmed up by walking from the car to registration, then back to the car, then back to the race area and then did about 0.6 miles easy jogging and a few strides.  I saw lots of people I knew and it was great to be surrounded by so many friends.

The race started like it always does, packed into the starting area, just waiting for the horn to sound.  I was a couple rows back from the very front.  Thomas was farther up with his high school friends.  For the first half mile, the crowd thinned out into a long line with gaps between small groups of runners.  I slowly caught up to (Magic Pants) Robin (wasn't sure if I would - he's been chipping away at his times despite the increasing age (now 68).  His wife Pat has been doing the marketing for this race, now 11 years in a row.

I was feeling better than I had been in a while, holding my pace just under 7:00.  I think the beet juice shot I had done at 6:00 was helping.  

Thomas was nowhere to be seen.  Last year, I was trailing him, slowly caught him and eventually passed him, but not this year, he was way up ahead someplace I was pretty sure.

As I approached mile 2, I was on track for a few seconds over 7:00 pace.  I decided that wasn't going to happen, even if it meant slowing down for mile 3.  Made it under in 6:56, relaxed a little and saw my pace slip.  But the race had other plans.  There were still people ahead of me that I was following and people behind me that I knew would pass me if they could - people I had passed and were hoping to pass me back.

I slowly got back my pace, coming back from a slow down to 7:30ish, to almost breaking 7:00, hitting mile 3 at exactly 7:00.  It was a straight shot to the finish line and I ran the last 0.1 at a 5:40 pace.  A guy who had been wanting to pass me shook my hand after the race congratulating me on how I took off at the end.

My friend Daisy had run the 10K that morning and was cheering on the finishers.  I asked her if she'd seen Thomas.  She had seen him finish and thought she saw about 17:50 on the clock.

His actual time was 17:48 (about a 2 1/2 minute improvement from this race last year and a new PR by about 35 seconds).  The two top finishers were guys in their mid 20's with times of 15:51 and 16:13, followed by another high schooler (not from Mitchell) named John who was a second behind 2nd place guy.  Then there about a 1:30 gap with Tom at the lead of all of the other high schoolers (the next 10 finishers).

So, overall, I could not have been happier with this race.  I feel like I'm ready to race again, I had a lot of fun, and Tom had a big jump in time from his last 5k as well as over his fastest 5k.

Finished off the running morning with a lap around my neighborhood so I'd have over 6 miles for the day.