Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

53F.  Really good race.  I thought if everything went perfectly, I could break 1:23, so I guess it did.

Miles 1-5: 6:23, 6:13, 6:15, 6:16, 6:20.  (Garmin splits today, forgot to turn off auto lap).  As you can see, it took a little while for me to find the magical 6:20 pace I was shooting for.  I really felt good today.  With all my recent track work at faster paces than this, it truly felt pretty easy; I mean, there's 13 miles so it better feel easy.  I came through the 5k a little fast, officially in 19:22.  By the end of the first 5 miles you could definitely see who there was to run with going the same pace.

Miles 6-10: 6:20, 6:19, 6:19, 6:18, 6:23.  These miles were awesome.  I found a group of 3 and latched on.  They all had Luke's Locker on their clothes, so I guess they were friends.  Jake gave me advice yesterday that helped - find a girl to run with because they are great at pacing.  There just happened to be one in this little group and they were deadlocked on 6:20...perfect!  I came through the 10k in 39:06, a little ahead of the plan.  Before mile 8, the two guys in the group peeled off on the full marathon route.  I went ahead and introduced myself to Luke's Locker girl, heretofore known as Kylee.  We stuck together through this section, right on pace!  Came through the 15k in 58:35, another great 5k split (19:29).

Miles 11-13.1: 6:15, 6:29, 6:22, 0:31 for .11 (4:42 pace).  Kylee went behind me a few steps somewhere in mile 11; I should have slowed down for her, but I thought I knew better.  Sure enough, that little pickup in mile 11 debilitated me in mile 12 and she dropped me there like a bad habit, ended up beating me by 8-10 seconds.  Turning the corner for the home stretch, this guy pulls up next to me and we had ourselves an all-out foot race to the end.  It was awesome.  Usually I just pick up the pace slightly at the end, but we were battling like crazy.  Dead even at the line, but he won on the chiptime.

Key takeaways:  1) That 2 x 5k workout continues to be a great HM predictor for me.  2) You can fake your way through a HM on low mileage if you have some good hard efforts in there.  3) Girls are smarter pacers than me.  4) I'm in great shape for Boston, but I've gotta run real mileage now, because you can't fake your way through that race.  5) I love my new age group!  7th of 721.

54F, N 16 mph.  8:15 AP.  Some good, even, all-over soreness in the legs from the race (on concrete in lightweight flats).  I cut this a run a little short because of it; the soreness is well worth it though.  Recover this week, train for a marathon next week...

34F, 7:55 AP.  Still some residual crud in my legs, but better.

53F, 7:40 AP.  A little better; that race hit me harder than most HMs have.  Maybe it took too long to find the chocolate milk tent afterward.

37F, 7:27 AP.  Sleet and freezing rain shut down San Antonio this morning, giving me the morning off, and 9+ hours of sleep.  I didn't run though.  So normally, I would've said oh well, but I gotta start getting in the miles, so I ran around the neighborhood for an hour this evening.

I was playing around with Garmin Training Center, evaluating my race.  Says I hit 4:06 pace at the end (for whatever that's worth; instantaneous pace is pretty inaccurate).  I'll often crack into the 3:xx range on my strides, but this was at the end of a half.  I need to hire a 15-year old kid to accompany me on workouts, I think.

57F, 7:59 AP.  evening miles today.  Long and easy in the morning...