I ran the water tank hills with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin this morning. Larry went to some "get a free meal" sales pitch on smoke alarms and was telling us what he had learned. I felt a little like I was getting the sales pitch without the free meal, but Larry wasn't trying to sell us anything, he was just passing on what he had learned. Kevin pushed up the hills. We joked that it was to get away from the sales pitch. He said he wished one of us would have went with him, but Wayne has been ill this week, and I'm trying to back off and taper a little for the Hobble Creek half on Saturday. On the way down we were talking about how running faster often means running more efficiently which makes it easier than slogging along at a slower pace. I decided to just "let go" on the last 1/2 mile down 1600 N (400 E to Main). I didn't push hard. I just let the hill take me while I ran relaxed. I wasn't looking at my watch and was hoping I was running a 6:15-6:20 pace, similar to the pace I'd like to run for the first 5 or 6 downhill miles this Saturday. About 2/3 of the way into the 1/2 mile, where the road begins to level out more, I glanced at my watch and was shocked to see that my pace was 5:50/mi. I averaged 5:52/mi for the 1/2 mile and never really felt like I exerted myself all that much. It was only a 1/2 mile of downhill, but it still boosted my confidence a little for the race Saturday. On a side note, I finally finished the bathroom yesterday. They installed the counter top and sink in the morning. I took my three daughters to Home Depot (because Karen's out of town) and had them help me pick out a new faucet, which I installed without too much trouble (very unusual for me). I textured where I had patched the walls and touched up the paint, and installed the rods and mirror, and even some drawer liners. It's been a long project, with some setbacks and adversity along the way, but I must say I think it turned out pretty well. There's a marathon analogy in there somewhere.
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