I just felt like running

Took an afternoon run on the Point Mallard Trail.  A hot afternoon again (around 93F).  The trail is shaded so it didn't seem too bad.

At about 3/4 mile in, I tripped over my own feet and took a header on to the trail.  One of those slow motion crashes.  Very vivid , yet there is nothing to do.    Ended up sprawled on my back covered in dirt with a smile.  Both knees, elbows, palms  and a small bit of my back bloodied.  Not bad though. 

Crashes like this happen mostly during ultras for me.  Taking thousands of steps eventually leads to a couple duds here and there.  One foot not picked up enough or set down properly.  With so many steps in a long race, its amazing we humans can do it so well.

Lunch run at work. A little cooler.  91F.  We are on the verge of a cooling off.  No more 90's for a while.   I'm starting to get used to it though.

Ran a fartlek.  Took some 60-90 sec striders on the trail on uphills (7min/mile pace).  Felt good.  Right knee was a little sore from yesterday's fall but it will be OK.

Paced Amy B. in the 1 mile fitness challenge.  She was just back from England and was fatigued . Inspite of that, she met her goal of 8:12 and was able to collect her prize from the company nurse.

Lunch run.  Ran three laps on the BP Nature trail.

Morning run.  I was supposed to pace Rita in the 1 mile -  9:57 target.  She was a no show.   Ended up running laps on the 1/4 mile stretch where we do the test runs  and then did a loop on the trail.

Ran to work for the first time this morning.  1 hr 17 min.  Went well.   My wife talked me out of trying a roundtrip this time around.  I'll try that next week , especially if it cools down a little.    I'd like to get to where I don't drive at all for an entire workweek but that will take time.  I've never done more than 60 mile in a week and that would be 96.

Was nervous about a couple things on this run and none of them panned out.  Part of the run was past houses outside the city limits (almost in the country), I was worried there may be unleashed dogs that would chase me.  I passed 4-5 dogs which were outside but all were caged or chained.

My other concern was traffic.  This wasn't a big deal.   I went by the chicken plant before shift change which I think must be 7am.  State Docks Road (where 3M is) was the busiest stretch along my route but it again very tolerable-   less than 30 cars in a span of 1.5 miles (this was after 3M's shift change - 6am).

Initial mile splits were around 9 minutes.  Once warmed up, I settled into a 8 min/mile pace.  Last mile was 7:19.  Felt good.    So nice to run in a little cooler weather.

Took it easy today.  Race , Hills, and distance on Saturday.

Had a hard rain last night which dropped the temperature and brought in clouds.  That made for the best running weather here in several weeks.  Temperature never got above 70F during the race.  Even right now as I'm writing at 1pm, its only 77F.

The A&M course is quite scenic.   Heads down Chase Road, through a nice green valley, past the railroad museum, through a nice neighborhood before turning back and then doing two laps within campus.  It has a steep hill at about 4.1 miles which you then repeat at 5.8 miles.  I felt good.  Started easy and tried to maintain and finish strong.  I was pleased.

Got a chance to try a little race tactics with a local 22 year old, Sam Koudriavtsev.  I came even with him at around 3.5 miles and tried to pass him.  He was determined to stay with me and hugged the curb.  I pushed a little and gapped him on the first hill climb and built a 15 yard lead.  That held on the gradual downhill and by the start of the 2nd attempt at the hill was maybe 10 yards.  I stayed steady up the steep grade and tried to pick it up as the grade lessened.  I could hear him coming so I decided to ease up a little to let him catch me.  (I didn't have to ease a whole lot).  He pulled even with me and got a few strides ahead right at the crest of the hill.  We had only 0.2 miles to go.     Thinking he had just expended quite a bit of effort in the pass on the climb , I surged hard past him as I headed down the gradual grade and the finish.  My only hope was to break him as I didn't have the legs to keep the pace to the finish.  He blew by me 15 seconds later and I was the one broken.   He ended up beating me by 6 seconds.  I did almost catch Jon (4 seconds ahead of me).  That hardly ever happens at shorter distances.

Jon and I ran after the race around campus and through a couple neighborhoods.