The Long Run

7.16 mi, 1:03:55, 8:56 avg

Ran solo from my house in the neighborhood and out along the golf course in the usual t-shaped route along with an out and back in the last neighborhood before Trinity Blvd.  I didn't have a terribly slow first mile then kind of kept the pace steady around 9:00 with last couple miles a little more under.  Weather was pretty nice.

Afternoon: 1.0 mi, 12:00

Late afternoon run/walk using MapMyRun, hopefully these count for something.

7.5 mi, 1:05:39, 8:45 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders at 5:30.  Arrived just as the others were starting out.  It was a pretty good run.  One minor glitch - I did not tear my gel open correctly and could not get it to open, but I wasn't doing that long of a run and really didn't need it I suppose.  I ran into Aristida neighborhood, turning back at about 3.75 miles.  Ran one faster mile (7:09) towards the end of the run.

Chatted a bit with Barb, Clarke, and Anthony.

6.14 mi, 53:09, 8:40 avg

Overall, not a bad run.  I spent a little extra time warming up - lunges, jumping jacks, high knees, leg swings.  It seemed to help a little bit.  Instead of a 10:30-11:00 mile, first mile was 9:48, then 9:00, and then the rest in the 8:nn's and I felt much better at the end than I did at the beginning.  For some of the run I didn't feel like running and almost took a walk break a few times, but resisted and knew I'd feel better if I kept on going.

Last year, I ran a marathon in the spring for fun to pace a friend (Jamie at the Buffalo marathon), and two weeks later I ran the Utah Valley marathon to hopefully BQ but I missed the minimum BQ time by 7 minutes for a 3:37.  So, I trained some more, especially for downhill and ran the Super Tunnel Marathon in Washington state where I did better, but did not better my BQ time (1:42 cushion at Marine Corps Marathon in Fall 2015).

Then in October, I ran the Oil Creek 100 mile race in PA so I could enter the lottery for Western States 100.  It was touch and go and if not for my crew (Jim and Cynthia) would not have made it.  Two weeeks later I was feeling pretty good when I ran Marine Corps Marathon "for fun" and ran 3:27:00, good for a 3:00 Boston cushion, better than any cut off so far.  But, that would not be good enough, but it was good for not doing any real marathon training - I was running a lot of 5K's and improving my time and running some volume of slow heart rate miles for general fitness and 100 mile race training.  I also improved my half marathon time to almost break 1:30 again (which was good enough for NYC marathon entry).

So, no Boston for 2018.  It would have been nice but honestly, I never brought the right amount of focus to marathon training, but that's ok.  I do feel bad for the people who did have full focus and a good plan but could "only" get 3:22 or less above and beyond Boston cut off time.  The bottom line I guess is that it is different for everyone, you get out what you put in but that might still not be enough.  But, while playing the BQ game I am staying in shape, giving me my health and sanity and I am within striking distance and believe that some good will come out of it.

PM - 2.16 mi, 18:04, 8:21 avg

Took Stella to Longleaf for "Hump Day Hustle" run.  We just did an out and back on the bike trail. 9:24 pace on the way up and 7:30 pace on the way back.  She seemed to like the way back a lot better.  She got lots of pets at the end from her admirers.  When I got back to my car I saw that Cynthia texted me, said she saw me running with Stella and that she'd be at Lonzalos with Harry.  So, I got Stella back out of the car and we went to say hi (she also had her two dogs Bones and Tasha with her). Stella liked this part also.

10.86 mi, 1:28:33, 8:09 avg

Ran from my house out to 54 then to Starkey Blvd.  First mile was a clunky feeling 11:11, followed by a more reasonable 9:32.  The next half mile was recorded as being slow because I didn't stop my watch when Jenny and NiKYO pulled over to talk to me briefly.  I stopped at the little church to take my gel and stash my gatorade before starting on the workout of the day.  I had decided on a 5 mile tempo run but was going to run it on the "easy" side of the range and just shoot for 7:0x pace range (was also attempting to adjust for heat/humidity).

It didn't feel much easier than if I was running 6:40-6:50 range.  Ran out 2.5 miles and turned around.  I kept on wanting to scrap the run, was not feeling great but I was at least hitting my pace goals.  Finally, when I finished the 4th mile I actually did stop and decided I'd do the last mile in 6:45 or better and stop struggling with the pace that was supposed to be easier.  Got going again and was able to do the last mile 6:37.  

Took it easy a little bit going back to the picnic bench with a slower mile and did two more MPish miles (about 7:45)

Overall I had mixed feelings about this run, mileage was good and I was certainly out of my comfort zone but I also felt I wasn't quite where I wanted to be.

6.21 mi, 52:53, 8:31 avg

Ran solo in the neighborhood.  First mile slow, but not as slow as yesterday's first mile.  Next 3 miles faster, 8:45-8:10 range.  Stopped briefly just after the turnaround and talked to a guy who was out walking and he asked me if I was doing speed work and what was my best 10k time (he guessed 38 minutes, told him 39 something but these days more like 42 for a good time).  He said he wished he could still run like that and used to do 40 minute flat 10k's but has an artificial hip now.  Nice guy to talk with.  It was also motivating.  Run while you can, when you can, run as fast as you can when it's time to race.

Weather was quite nice.

And now, first time in a while I've made it to 40 miles by Friday.

Part 1: 5.11 mi, 45:15, 8:51 avg

Part 2a: 0.67 mi

Part 2b: 8.27 mi, 1:13:05, 8:50 avg

Part 3: 4.31 mi, 33:01, 7:39 avg

Started out with just over 5 miles running in the neighborhood, finishing just after 8:00, then drove over to Holloway Park in Lakeland to see the cross country meet.  Meet was starting a little bit later today because they had an invitational race before the varsity races.  Saw Thomas at the start, then cut over to the one mile marker.  Saw him and got his split (5:59).  Looking strong and running 3rd place for the team after Zeke and Spencer.  Then ran over to the next spot (about 2.4 mile marker which I'd verify the distance later that morning).  Still holding 3rd place and looking strong.  Finally, ran over to the finish area.  Course comes out of the woods and does a horse shoe shape mowed into the grass.  Saw Zeke (about 18:30), then Spencer and Tom who ran 19:30 (course PR for him). 

For me, it was 0.67 miles (curious to see how far it was).

Although it was later in the morning, there was some cloud cover and a little bit of a breeze.  I was going to head straight home and try to do another 10 miles, but decided to get some miles in here.  I ran several loops around the small lake, no trail but mowed grass that was pretty easy to run on.  After finishing about 3.5 miles, the last race of the morning had finished and people were packing up, so I decided to run the course.  It starts on a field going up a hill, then the trail narrows and goes downhill then into a rolling terrain with lots of twists and turns.  It was great seeing the trail from the racers view.  Finished up the course and saw the timing guy as he was packing up.   Did a few more lake loops, sun was out now and decided 8.27 was good and I'd finish up the rest on the treadmill.

For part 3, went back home, let Stella out, then went to the Y.  Warmed up slowly and periodically bumped up the speed until about a 7:15 pace.  Played around with the speed and incline.

It was about 3 pm now, felt like I'd been running all day but glad to get it done and enjoyed the variety and grateful to get out to see Tom run.

As I was leaving the Y, Joe texted me to meet at the Brass Tap where they were doing an Oktoberfest party.  Saw Joe, Liz, Dave, Anthony, Evan and a few others.  After Brass Tap, got cleaned up then headed over to Jessica's parents house and had a "break the fast" dinner with them and some friends (and of course Jessica!).