Standard 10.04 + untimed bathroom detour in the morning. Ran a bit faster than 7:00, threw in a tempo on the standard 2.5 stretch coming back. On the tempo felt sluggish, the pace did not feel strenuous, but I did not feel like going faster than 5:45 on the first mile. Then something got into me and I started getting excited, after the first mile in 5:45, I did a quarter in 1:25, followed by a 1:23. Decided to break 5:30 on the last mile figuring I was almost going the right pace already. Next uphill quarter in 1:23, followed by another partially uphill in 1:23. With 0.5 to go saw that I had a remote shot of catching the 14:00 guy. Next quarter in 1:22. Then saw that with a 1:19 quarter I could catch him. The legs responded to the challenge, ran a 1:17, got 13:58, and 5:25 for the last mile. For me this is very significant, I often cannot kick more than a second or two above pace. I was particularly happy about the last 100 in 18 seconds, I think that is the best tempo run kick time this year so far. I felt I was able to power through the foot-stuck-to-the-ground phase better. I have been struggling with this problem since my teenage years - the foot lingers on the ground probably an extra 0.05 of a second, and it seems like there is nothing I can do about it. This is probably why my sprint falls short of my ten-fold jump by so much. Finished the run in 1:06:16. Ran with the kids as soon as I got home. Then in the evening for our Monday night Family Home Evening activity we threw a tennis ball. Julia did 4 meters, Jenny 6 meters, Benjamin 14 meters, same as his softball throw, that answered my question about how the two compare for an 8 year old kid, Sarah threw 19 meters, and I did 29. Now here is the odd part: At the age of 11 I could only throw 20 meters. My male classmates threw 30 on average, and the best of them threw 40. It bothered me that I was so far behind. During the summer I went to our school's stadium and practiced time and again, but with no improvement, stuck at 20 meters. Then something happened a couple of months later. With no practice I was throwing 30. My 60 meter sprint improved from 11.3 to 9.7. My fighting ability improved, which at least at that time in a Soviet school was a very important skill for a boy. And I won the school 500 meter race in 1:45, which gave me the encouragement to sign up at the Znamenskiye track school. So figuring that now I that I was bigger, I should be able to throw a bit better than what I did at 12, I was expecting it to be 35-40 meters. After a number of tries, and finally getting a reasonably decent technique, which a thrower would probably laugh at, but I doubt was any worse than my 12 year old one, I was right there at my 12 year old result. Ran about 0.3 chasing Benjamin home, and then went for a very leisurely 3 mile run, about 7:50 pace. Met another runner. His name is Jeff McMclallan. He is planning to join me on Thursday.
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