The Long Run

PHSC 5K  "Run with the Bobcats"

22:09, 12th overall, 1st age group (no where close to getting masters award as Bob Bradley was there and put down a pretty impressive 18:42).  Tom won overall with 16:25  (Strava gave him a PR at 16:08, kind of tough to run the tangents perfectly with a few hair pins on the two loop course).

This might be one of my favorite local 5K's, have been running it for years starting when it was PHCC "Run with the Quistas" 5K.  Ran with the boys several times, one year with Jacob, one year by myself.  Always run into people I know.  Coach Jacki does a great job putting this together.  This year, Tom had been given a free entry.  I picked up Tom on the way there, which I was a little early for so we were one of the first runners to arrive.  Beautiful morning out, cool enough that I wore long sleeve shirt and a hat while warming up.  Did a little over mile and a half warm up with strides.  I did not do strides just before the race so may have tightened back up a little bit.

Race started out and my feet felt stuck to the ground.  I wasn't lined up at the very front and was quickly mid pack into the starting crowd.  I couldn't get out of the 7:30's is seemed.  As we approached where I could see the parking lot loop, could see Tom trailing a shirtless high schooler.  The advantage of me being behind so many people and getting passed at the start was I'd spend the rest of the race catching up to people.

I somehow managed to get out of the 7:30's and finished mile 1 at 7:20.  After the first mile I thought I had dipped into the 6's but was soon back in the 7's but came out faster than mile 1 at 7:10.   Ok, after mile 2, I can do this, don't slow down.

I'd been catching up to two women (19 and 20 years old), as we went through the last couple of parking lots I finally got in front of them, turned the corner and sprinted in as best as I could not sure if I'd get outkicked in the end.  Finished mile 3 with 6:58 and the last bit at the end was 6:12 pace.

With today's splits of 7:20, 7:10, 6:58 it was kind of like how some of my time trials and tempo runs have gone.  Had some chest congestion earlier in the week and still a tiny bit left so with that in mind these splits weren't too bad.

When I ran this in 2016, I was a little sub-20:00 that day.  Tom and Andy ran it and Andy was right behind me followed pretty closely by Tom.

This year Tom managed to hold off and put a good gap between himself and the high school runner who ran 16:58

We stuck around for awards and then grabbed McDonald's drive thru on the way back.

My parents are back in town so we all went to Rusty Bellie's in Tarpon Springs for dinner that night so they could celebrated belated birthdays for the boys.

8.31@10:21 HR 132 bpm

After yesterday's day off from running, some easy miles, out and back to the Pinellas Trail northbound just past the old train tunnel and then back.  Cool weather, didn't need to carry any water and did not stop at the water fountain.  Decided to not go as slow as Saturday, hoping the heart rate would stay down in the 120's still but ended up at 132.

4.54@11:17, followed by 0.33@5:52 (5x100m (approx))

Easy run, mindful of heart rate (but knowing it reads high), just kind of kept it steady for the most part.  Ran south down the Starkey Gap trail a little past Lake Dan and then back home.

You shouldn't hide from the strides, decided to do 4 then did 1 more.  I think these help especially when most of the miles are run at a very easy pace.

4.56@8:58, HR 140 bpm

Two loops inside Westlake Village, steady pickup from slow first mile (11:13), to 7:53 for 4th mile followed by a half mile at 7:13 (paces noted after the fact, wasn't sure what the pace was while I was actually running).

Another very nice morning for running.

12.04@9:26, HR 141 bpm

Wasn't sure what would happen tomorrow morning (might be traveling and hard to get in a long run), so tried for more miles than usual.  Ran loop from my house to 54 and then down the Starkey Gap Trail and kept on going down to Keystone, crossed the street and kept on going to a little bit past Keystone Kennels (dogs were saying hi when I ran by) then once I thought I'd have 12, turned back.  The first part of the run was pretty slow (but not painfully slow), steadily got faster on the way back with last mile at 8:11 pace.

Ended up deciding to go with Jessica on the trip to south Florida (Boca area) where her kids were visiting friends.  I made sure to say out loud to make sure I got my long run (or any run at least).    I think this helped.

12.05@10:18, HR 137 bpm

This run felt warmer at the start, got slightly cooler by the end. I had no idea where I was going to run.  Hotel was a few miles from the beach (I wasn't sure exactly how far, turns out it was around 2.25).  I felt slow and clunky starting out, kind of stiff.  Had to stop at a good amount of traffic lights, then finally arrived at the end of Hillsboro.  Crossed street to a road that was blocked off.  There was a fire truck with ladder raised and a huge flag hanging down, also various police cars, swat type trucks, etc.  A 5k had just finished and people in race bibs were hanging out.  Had I planned better could've fit this into my run.  I looped around the streets near where the race was and then decided to continue north up A1A.

Sidewalk was kind of crowded and I was still feeling and running slow.  But, just past the congested area, crossed to the other side of the street where there was a pretty wide recreational trail.  I crossed over another bridge (had crossed over one earlier on Hillsboro), and then a little down the road saw a cooler outside a realty office with a sign "Free Water".  I thought it was empty at first because it was missing its top but I looked inside and saw a few bottles of water sitting on top of ice.  Took a bottle and although it wasn't that warm out, the cold water was so refreshing it tasted delicious.  I drank some, used some to top off my running drink bottle and then kept on going.

After turning back, the running felt much easier.  Made it back to the hotel feeling much better than when I started.  Finished the hard to do longer run while traveling.

Decided I'm going to try Long Haul 100 again coming up in January.  This weekend was a good place to start building weekend mileage (which I was pretty short on for Long Haul 100 in 2020).