A.M. Even though I was feeling better, I knew my immune system was still weak. 10 miles is no big deal to me normally, but it does borrow some against the immune system, and if starts out low, it could put it on the verge of bankruptcy, so to speak. So I ran only 6 with Jeff in 44:35. Then when we finished Sarah was getting out for her last mile, and she talked me into running it with her. I talked Jeff into running the first 0.5 before he would speed up to his normal pace. Sarah and Jeff were occupied with a conversation about making carob cakes, and that allowed Jeff to trick her into running the first half in 4:36 instead of the promised 5:15. Then on the way back I bribed Sarah to keep the fast pace with the promise of prompt help with the laundry immediately after. So we ended up with a more normal 9:18 mile instead of the desired 10:30 which I thought was too slow to begin with. P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:48. He demonstrated signs of being alive. After the warm-up mile in 8:57 we ran a hard 0.5 in 2:52 with the splits of 85,87. This actually happens to be Benjamin's PR for the half. I was very pleased to see that because lately he's not been able to keep 6:00 for longer than 600 meters on a good day. Then 350 meters later after getting his description of the effort I wanted to see how much he had left in the tank and told him to run the last quarter as close to 90 as possible with the idea that if he was totally blowing up I'd stop him early. He ran a 91, and I was very pleased with that as well. This gives us hopes for a sub-6:00 mile in the Thanksgiving race, which has a realistic shot of winning. Last year 6:10 won (Jacob Blackburn), but this year if Aiden Troutner shows up and runs a normal race the winning time would be around 5:45, maybe even sub-5:40. Joshua Blackburn would probably run it a little under 6:00, which I think Benjamin could match if he has as good of a day as he did today. What I find peculiar, though, is the great fluctuations in endurance from day to day. I wonder if it is somehow related to the hormones participating in the maturation process. 0.5 with Julia and Joseph in 4:50.
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