I just felt like running

lunch run.  turned out to be longer than expected .  The film plant was moving a rail car across an access road so I ran laps back and forth in front of building 14.  When it looked like, it was clear I headed south again only to be stopped by them again saying another car was coming.  I turned around and ran the half mile to a section of railroad tracks that I can run on for 200 yards to get back to the locker room.  It was under repair and I had to turn around there too.  I ran the 1/2 mile back to the other crossing and got across.  When I was almost done, the train from earlier had moved east down the track was about to cross in front of me again.  I sprinted across the parking lot and was able to get across.  Otherwise it would have been a 7-8 mile run.

Tuesday afternoon speed workout for Saturday race.  Just like two weeks ago it ended badly.  Hopefully like two weeks ago, I end up with a good race.    I left my water bottle and Gu's at home so I wasn't too confident going into a 10 mile interval workout in humid weather.

I ended up doing 6-7 short intervals ranging from 0.3 to 0.5 miles.  pace between 5:56 and 6:16.   I got really drained towards the end and slogged it back home at ultra pace (8:30's). I felt better after my chocolate milk.

Run to work.  Took it easy.  Didn't feel particularly strong.  Half way through I ate a Gu and started to get a little spring in my step.

lunch run on the trails and the evening run around the neighborhood.   all easy.  feeling good.

easy out-an-back down finley island road

Rained hard all night but stopped before the start.

 Ran in third in a pack of 3 until mile 1.  Patrick Fagerman leading.  Came in at around 5:45.  After the mile mark, there is a long straightaway on a slight decline.  I picked it up and moved into the lead.  I wasn't planning on making a move but they didn't respond so I kept going.  Race was pretty uneventful after that .  I gradually pulled away and kept Patrick a good distance behind me.  He's a great sprinter (which I am not) so I wanted to maintain a good gap.  Ended up 10 seconds ahead of him.

This is my first road race win and 2 seconds off my PR.  I was hoping to get to 18 minutes by December so I'm ahead of schedule.  Last year at this time, I was in the low 19's.  Gives me more confidence I may be able to PR in the marathon at Huntsville.  We'll see.  I have two full more months of training.