Pretty easy run. Averaged 7:26. I got bored in the middle, so I threw in a marathon pace mile to see if I actually even know what 6:20 feels like since I've been racing and doing intervals at 6:00 or under pace and most of my other running is 7:30-8:00 pace. So I did a couple of strides to quicken the pace and then ran mile 8 of my 14-miler in 6:19. Felt pretty comfortable. We'll se how comfortable that feels after 20 consecutive...its not likely to be at all comfortable after the first few but I'm up for the challenge. Maybe I'll do a longer tempo run at 6:20 pace next week to get a better feel for the pace. Next week I'm going to do one more "long run" (22 miles), probably on Tuesday. Then I'll cut back the rest of the week to taper for a fast 5K in Denver Saturday night. My friends talked Aaron and I into doing the Skirt Chaser 5K with them (it didn't take much convincing, as you may imagine). The race is put on by Nicole DeBoom, elite triathlete and owner of Skirt Sports in Boulder and the rules are that Women start 3 minutes before the men and the over-all winner gets $500. I think 3 minutes is favoring the women, but I guess Nicole DeBoom's goal with the race is to empower women and she obviously hopes that there is a female winner in all the Skirt Chaser races she holds around the country. Women get a running skirt instead of a race tee with our entry. Men get a tee advertising Skirt Sports. Honestly, I don't know that I will ever wear my running skirt, but I'll see how comfy it is, I guess. Anyone else love running skirts? I am excited that Aaron is doing the 5K with me even though he hasn't been running much lately AND he has the major disadvantage starting 3 minutes behind me. We considered the idea of him wearing a long wig and me wearing a Baseball Cap with my hair tucked in and letting him start with the women and me start with the men to see if I could catch him, but then we vetoed that idea when we learned that there is prize money for the overall winner. So I think he's hoping to come in no more than 6 minutes behind me (3 minutes with the conversion). When we were engaged and newly wed Aaron used to run with me a lot and he was in GREAT shape. He once ran a sub 39 minute 10K! He likes to brag that he HAS actually beat me ONCE in a running race. It was a downhill mile a few years ago. We trained at the track together to prepare and on race day he ran 4:46 and I ran 4:55. I claim that I had a major disadvantage because the race was VERY downhill and he had 200 lbs of weight pushing him down the hill while I only had 120 lbs, in addition, his legs are AT LEAST twice as long as mine, so I had to take two strides for every one of his strides (tounge in cheek). Those theories could be debated obviously but I'm sticking to 'em. By the way, Aaron HAS beat me in countless triathlons, so he still has plenty of pride in tact. I am pretty horrible at swimming and not much better at biking, while he is very well balanced in his swim, bike, run abilities.
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