AM. I ended up running alone this morning. Some company would have been nice, but I've always been able to enjoy solo runs. It was a beautiful morning with perfect temperatures. As I've been recovering from injuries and building my mileage I've been cautious and haven't done much speed work. With the 5K this weekend, and the WBR less than 3 weeks away, I think I'll try a few faster miles this week and see how it goes. This morning my mile splits were 9:25, 8:21, 8:02, 7:29, 7:31, and 9:18. I warmed up, gradually sped up, did a bit of a tempo run for miles 4 and 5, then cooled down. I didn't look at my watch except when it beeped the mile splits. I was sort of hoping that first tempo mile would be closer to 7:00 than 7:30, but I wasn't really going all out. I knew I had to save something for the noon run today. When I went to blog this entry today I saw the empty month of June with no entries yet. It was a bit intimidating to think of all the miles I would have to run to match the 180+ miles I ran in May. I wondered if my old body would hold up for another month. I thought of the Nestle 5K this Saturday, and of course the Wasatch Back Relay in a few weeks. We never quite know what's going to happen, but it's alway an adventure and, to use a basketball analogy, you miss every shot you don't take. I don't go to the library much, but Karen does. I went with her Saturday and ended up renting and watching the movie "Without Limits", a movie about Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine. I didn't care for some of the language, and I wouldn't recommend his lifestyle, but his mental toughness and courage while running was truly inspiring. I used his quote, "The only good race pace is a suicide pace" to inspire me to finally break 20:00 minutes in the Nestle 5K last year. Maybe watching the movie will inspire me to break my 19:53 PR at this year's Nestle 5K this weekend. I know my old body has limits, but it's a fun hobby finding out what they are. PM. I went out with Tom, Nathan, and Bill at noon. The weather was pretty warm, but there was good breeze. We headed east toward the mountains and did the modified Eagle View course that heads north and includes the longer (but not as steep) uphill. Tom turned back as planned at 2.5 miles. Nathan, Bill, and I went to 3 miles before turning around. By unspoken common consent the pace gradually picked up on the way back. Near the end both Bill and Nathan pulled away from me, Nathan significantly. My mile splits were 8:46, 8:14, 8:53 (the hill), 7:40, 7:19, and 7:21. Nathan went sub-7:00 the last mile. Overall average pace for me was 8:01/mi for the 6 miles. Good company, good run, and a good workout for me.
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