The Long Run

One mile at 10:34 pace after dinner with the boys.

Mixed treadmill/outdoor run at the Y this morning.  At the tail end (hopefully) of last week's illness so kept it fairly easy.   Ran on the treadmill, 4.11 miles at about an 8:20 pace, after doing some warm up, stretching and core work.

Headed outside, 2.21 miles at 7:46 pace, followed by a few sets of weights inside.

Afterwards, noticed a slight tender spot on the top of my left foot, guess the pace wasn't easy enough or maybe that is left over from Saturday's run, not bad but I'll keep an eye on it.  At least the IT band issues are gone.

It was a pretty good run this morning.  I was supposed to meet Dixie at 6:00 but he hadn't shown up by 6:15 so I started out by myself.   Began running from the 7-11 towards the Lansbrook neighborhood.   About 2 miles in I ran into Bob, so I ran with him for a mile as he finished up his run.   Headed down to the lake park for a quick water stop then headed back.   I was going to do some strides to try and reawaken some speed for Thursday's 5k.   I did one where I hit about a 5:45 pace briefly.  I was going to do a few more but then I ran into Dixie.  He was sorry he overslept.   He at least had a likable excuse.   We ran the rest of the way back, another 2.8 miles together.    At the end of the run it was very nice out.  55 degrees and sunny.

Average pace: 8:14

I ran 5.25 miles on the treadmill at the Y with an average pace of about 8:00.

It was cold outside when I woke up this morning and I didn't have anythingn planned.  I have the 5K tomorrow so I decided on trying to do something safe, so I chose the treadmill.  Did the usual bike warmup, stretching and core work then got on the treadmill.   Mostly ran at consistent pace right around 8:00 but a few times cranked up the speed for a minute or so to 5K pace.

I've got my fingers crossed for tomorrow.  I've done very little speed work but I should have my marathon fitness and my determination to win a coveted coffee mug and finally have my name show up on the results listing after 4 years trying.

 I finally won that elusive coffee mug.  I wasn't sure what I had in me today other than some lingering chest congestion, but fortunately it wasn't enough to slow me down today.  I warmed up with 1.25 miles easy shortly before the race started.  Lined up as best I could near the front, but people kept on getting in front of me.  Oh well, just make the best of it I thought.  The gun went off and I found myself trying to find an opening.   It was better this year than last year because they broke up the 5k into two races, a competitive race and a fun run.  So, this helped a lot but there were still lots of people who weren't lined up correctly.

The first mile felt good, hard but good.  It didn't seem like I was going that fast but I finished it in 6:08.  I thought that was not a bad pace and maybe I could hold it longer.  The next mile felt a lot harder and I saw my pace dropping and it was a battle to keep it from dropping too far.  The air was cold and slightly burned my lungs.  2nd mile finished in 6:24.  At the start of the 3rd mile my pace was back up and I was feeling good since there was just one mile to go.  I was back at a 6:00 pace but then the hill came along.  I was holding my pace well at first but by the time I reached the top I had slowed back down to 6:25.  I recovered slightly and finished the last mile at 6:20.

On the way into the stadium I tried to pass one more guy, I was thinking that I didn't want to miss getting the coffee mug by one person!  This thought had helped me throughout the race as I would either pass people or not slow down too much when I felt like slowing down more and have people pass me.  I could hear Jenny and the kids cheering for me in the stands.  I went through the finish chute and was handed a finisher's card with a #114 on it!  So, on the race results I'll be number 114 out of 125 men which ordinarily is not a good thing but is in this case since there were probably a few thousand runners in this race.

I then ran the 1 mile race with the boys.  Another big race with lots of obstacles (strollers, walkers, etc.) but still lots of fun.  Andy finished ahead of us in 8:34 and Noah and I finished in 8:55.

We grabbed some snacks and the boys and I went up to the stands to wait for Jenny.  She finished in 51:15, a new 10K PR for her!

***Update - official results are posted now, I was actually #113 with a time of 19:40, still a 6 second PR on a harder course than my previous PR.  Another PR chance coming up on a very flat and straight out and back course at Starkey park :)

So, here's my coffee mug below, along with the really nice tech shirts they gave out this year.

Just a short run to make up a few miles.  Quads were a little sore from yesterday's race but nothing terrible.  It was a little bit chilly when I first woke up so I overdressed a bit.  Was nicer by the time I started running and I was a little bit warm at the end.  Ran a new route in the neighborhood which Jenny runs some times.   Pretty nice run overall.

Average pace: 8:23

going to meet the guys for 15 tomorrow in Starkey park.

Ran with Keith, Dixie, and Jorge.  Met up at Starkey park.  Jorge was running 22 miles today so he did 7 miles before the rest of us arrived.  It was a pleasant 49 degrees at the start and gradually warmed up until it was somewhere in the high 60's at the end.  We did a basic out and back course with about a mile and a quarter on the Suncoast pkwy trail.  Kept the pace pretty easy for most of the run until the last two miles where we picked up up a bit to a 7:54 and a 7:05.

Quads were still a bit sore, especially the left one so it was good to keep the pace lower for the most part.

Average pace: 8:44