Training for a Belt Buckle

Woke up this morning with a rash all over my upper body and torso.  Never had that happen before.  The only thing I can think of is maybe a combination of sun allergy and wearing a running tank that I have not worn in several years (and having it on for several hours after running ended).  

Supposed to be a day of rest, but got online and found our website and application were not up and running and had to get the Michigan IT people online and go to our colocation facility for a couple of hours.  We have it running again, but need to order some emergency parts first thing tomorrow morning.

Took benadryl last night and finally got a good night sleep and was able to get out the door around 5 this morning.  Ran 5 miles alone, then another mile with the puppy as a cool down.  Did the quarry loop to get some hills in.

Got a lot done at work today.

PM - 1 mile walking the dog in the heat.  Ate dinner. 1 hour at the gym working hard on chest/triceps/core. 1 more mile walking the dog in the lesser heat of the day.

Got out the door by 5 and did 5 miles running on a route I have not done in a while.  Down 7th East to 80th South then to the Trax trains and alongside the trax trains to 90th South and then back.  There is one section alongside the trains where there are no lights and the road is really cracked and pitted and had to feel my way along in the dark in the FiveFingers since they are not as stable as running shoes.  I felt like I was in a cheap horror movie when (in the same stretch), a car suddenly started up as I ran next to it (never saw the owner come out) and then a few minutes later a couple of bikers started up on the road without making a sound.

1 more mile walking with Twilight as a cooldown.  At work now and drinking my milk/protein/spinach/blueberry/pomegranate shake for breakfast.

PM - started off walking to the gym for an abs class.  Met up with Steve Ashbaker and talked with him for a while and then ended up running the remaining mile to the gym. Did a 20 minutes abs class, then 50 minutes of back and biceps.  When I came out the temperature had dropped over 13 degrees in the 70 minutes I was inside and there was a nice tailwind, so ran home 1.3 miles from the gym.

I planned to do more than 1 mile today, but slept until 6 this morning and ended up doing 12+ ours at work (busy week - don't ask). Too lazy to do more tonight.

It's going to be a low mileage week this week. Just walking this morning. Race at midnight tonight.

PM - walked the dog over to pick up my race packet at the Rec Center.  T-shirt is not half bad (for a non-techie shirt). It glows in the dark.  If it cools off tonight and doesn't rain I may actually race in it.  I'm going to try a new light my sister gave me that hooks on the bill of my running hat. It pays to register early - my bib number is #4.

I wasn't sure what to expect on this race because I am normally exhausted by 10 p.m. and staying up for a race at midnight was questionable.  I convinced Melinda Aaron from the blog to run with me and we met part way through my warmup.  

1.5 mile warmup.  I was wearing a new headlamp my sister gave me that clipped onto my bill cap and it worked well for checking my garmin.  They had 300 people signed up this afternoon and I think there were about 350 total entrants.  Between injuries and sickness I didn't expect a PR - I wasn't really planning on racing - just staying sub 30 minutes for the race.

Lost a few seconds at the start because we didn't hear the start and then had to pick our way through the pack.  We split up quickly because Melinda is younger and faster than me.  I was a bit ahead of pace the first quarter mile because I knew it was a gentle uphill - looking back I wish I had pushed that first quarter mile more.  After the second corner, I realized the gently uphill was followed by a long and not so gentle uphill.  I kept passing other runners and lots of walkers, but was frustrated because my pace was above 11 mm pace at times. (OK - the guy pushing the double stroller that blew past us on the uphill was pretty annoying). Finally at .95 there was a bit of flat and then another small uphill. 

Passed one mile at about 10:22 and knew I had some ground to make up.  I was also a bit concerned because my right achilles tendon was still very tight.  A little after the 1 mile mark the course flattened out for a couple of blocks and then started the downhill.  I tend to be conservative on downhills, but was feeling the racing bug and started pushing myself relatively hard.  I passed about 30 or more people in mile 2 and didn't get passed by anyone.  The tendon loosened up sometime during this mile and finished mile 2 in 9:18.  (7:37 best).

Mile 3 was a combination of flat and about a quarter mile of gentle uphill before a final downhill section.  I was passed right after the downhill ended by about 5 other runners, but managed to pass them back and about 15 more in the final mile.  Caught one guy I had been chasing down most of the race at about 2.5.  The last several blocks were on a paved path that had a lot of weeds and ruts and I had to try and speed up to shoot gaps and pass runners.  Finished the mile in 9:12. 

Two teenagers caught me right near the end, and I was not able to get enough of a kick to gap the final runners about 1/4 block ahead of me. 

Melinda high fived me in the chute and was excited that she had finished 4th in her age group, but mentioned that she wished she had pushed a little harder to get a prize.  I was shocked and pleased to find that I was 4th in my age group and also wished that I had pushed a little harder to get an age group prize.

It was a nice, but tough course and I think I am going to train on it some during the day time in order to come back next year and really race this course.

AM 2 - couldn't sleep in even though I desperately needed it.  Just did 2 miles with Twilight and picked up some breakfast along the way. I ache from lack of sleep - so an Ibuprofen day.  I'm going to do pushups/biceps/triceps and core before I start getting ready for the wedding (not mine :-))