Every Race is an Adventure!

Kent, Larry, and I headed to THS. Monday is track day. Tim showed up a little later.

This morning I felt the best I've felt in a long time, with very little pain and a little bit of zip in my legs...just a little. My 7 x 0.5 mile splits were 3:32, 3:31, 3:34, 3:27, 3:25, 3:24, and 3:18. These splits are on the faster end of what I've been doing the past number of weeks.

Comparing my last 3 year's splits, many of them are very similar from year to year, with some lows and highs mixed in. A rough average breakdown is:

Miles 1-4	6:20/mi
Miles 5-8	6:40/mi
Mile 9	6:45/mi
Mile 10	7:00/mi
Miles 11-12	7:10/mi
Mile 13	7:00/mi
Last 0.1	40 secs
	1:27:45 (6:42/mi)

My last 3 year's times have been 1:27:02, 1:26:14, and 1:30:52. I'm not in 1:26 shape this year. My stretch goal is my average of 1:27:45, but I'll be satisfied with anything at or under 1:30:00.

To hit 1:27:45 would mean my average pace would have to be 3:21 per half mile, which is a fast half mile interval for me on track day, where I run 3.5 miles at roughly that pace, not 13.1 miles. Of course Hobble Creek has some great downhill where the track is flat, and then there's always race day magic. I'm excited to once again experience the adventure of a race to push my mental and physical limits and see what's in there.

Great run on the 2000 N hill route with Wayne, Kent, and Kevin...and the running was almost secondary. What a blessing to have such great men to run with. We missed Larry.

Avg Pace: 9:08/mi (10:46 and 9:54 on the hills, then 8:32, 8:39, 8:44, and 8:10)

Wayne, Kent and I ran the water tank hills. I didn't charge the hills this morning like I often do, partly because of starting to taper for the race Saturday, and partly because it was warm and I just felt sluggish, but I managed to hang in there and not fall behind. My time up the hills was 17:57 compared to 16:40 last week.

It was really warm this morning, low 70's I think, and I didn't enjoy that much. Like Tom mentioned on his blog recently, I run much better in cooler weather. It is forecast to be warm on Saturday for the race, but it starts up the canyon so at least the first part should be a little cooler.

I'm tapering for Hobble Creek Half on Saturday so I ran the Thursday route with Wayne and Kent but left out the big hill at the end. It was windy but was sure warm again this morning.

I shared some Paulosophy during this morning's run that I discussed with my family recently. It seems many people want to look thin and fit and have a healthy tan without actually exercising regularly, eating well, and working and playing in the out of doors. Similarly, many want the fruits of their labor...big house, new cars, a life of ease and abundance...without actually doing the labor. It's like wanting to run a PR or BQ without consistent training.

The point I think many miss is that the true value of the fruits of our labor...the inner peace, joy, satisfaction, and happiness...derive from the labor. After 50 years of life experience, I've come to firmly believe in the law of the harvest. A fruitful harvest requires sustained effort (sowing, watering, fertilizing, weeding), patience, and the blessings of heaven. In many ways, the value of what you get out of something is largely determined by what you put into it. Work is not a four letter word; it is a key ingredient for a productive and happy life.

The results aren't much to brag about, but I got what I deserved...dang it. My performance was way down from the past few years:

As you can see, at no point did I have any chance of equaling previous years, and it went downhill from there.

First, it really bothered me that the race started 38 minutes late on a day forecasted to be in the mid to high 90's. It was light enough to see well by 6:00am, light enough to read a book by 6:30am, the race wasn't scheduled to start until 7:15am, and it didn't start until 7:53am. I think they need to move the start time up to at least 6:30am. At least then when it almost inevitably starts late, it will be closer to 7:00am than 8:00am. But that said, everyone had the same conditions so I can't use that as an excuse.

The reason I didn't run any faster was because I haven't been training hard enough to run any faster. I've focused on long, slow distance this year to get ready for my ultra marathon in June and pamper my PF, knee, and hip pain. I've stepped things up a little the last month or so, but then then I missed a long run to help at YW camp and only ran once the next week while on a family vacation.

In the race, I felt okay about running a little slower the first few miles. I knew my training was down and I hoped by not going out to fast I might last a little longer. No such luck. I just kept getting slower and slower, getting passed gradually but steadily by a host of runners.

With two miles to go I had slowed to 9:12/mi pace. About that point I saw a man about my age try to pass me. I decided I could do anything for two miles and decided to test my mental fortitude and hold him off to the finish. He tried 3 or 4 times to pass me over the next mile, but I eventually pulled ahead enough that I couldn't feel him behind me anymore. I kept pushing and passing people clear to the finish. It was a good thing, because there were three runners in my age division who finished 6 seconds, 7 seconds, and 21 seconds behind me. I would have finished 8th instead of 5th. The 4th place runner, Hal Amos, was 10 minutes ahead of me.