Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

36F, N 10 mph, wet.  Long MP run #2 of 3 today.  First 9 easy, last 11 at GMP.

First 9 -- AP 7:40 -- 8:01, 7:41, 7:38, 7:40, 7:43, 7:42, 7:31, 7:38, 7:32

Last 11 -- AP 6:45 -- 6:50, 6:48, 6:52, 6:45, 6:44, 6:50, 6:49, 6:47, 6:39, 6:44, 6:26

Overall for 20 miles -- AP 7:10

Good confidence-building run.  I like to run the MP portion faster than my actual goal pace, which is only 7:03, in the hopes that 7:03 will feel like a walk in the park on the big day.  Actually, it probably ended up being closer to an 11-mile time trial than an MP run.  I picked up the pace for the last mile to see if I still had some gas in the tank.  I definitely did have some energy to spare, but not a ton.

Still, looking at the total time of 2:23 for 20, it's nice to know I could've just done a recovery jog for another 10K and still PR'd the marathon today.  Seems like the endurance is just about there...

25F, N 18 mph, w/c 12F.  A little too cold for this Texas boy.  Danielle got me some pants at Walmart to run in, but it was still a little painful on my face going into the wind.  I think I set a PR for longest shoe-tying session.  Normally my shoes never come untied since I double-knot them, but of course, today they did.  I fumbled around for quite a while since it was dark and I lacked dexterity in my frozen hands.  At least the roads were dry - we had an inch or two of snow on Monday morning but it didn't stick to the roads.  7:48 AP.

20F.  Thankfully, not much wind though - it actually felt warmer than yesterday.  Gutted my way through 15 miles @ 7:46 AP.  Felt pretty worn-out afterward, that hard 20 on Sunday is definitely still in my legs.  Still plan on taking it easy the next couple days, then possibly a 5K on Saturday; I need to get going on that sub-19 goal.

TM

I've been in Dallas the last couple days for job interviews, minimal running.  AM 4 on the TM, and 4 PM miles with some strides when I got home.  At least the legs are nice and rested now -- 5K tomorrow!

33F.  Success on my sub-19 goal.  I measured it at 3.08 miles and it was not on their certified course, so maybe add 10 seconds to the time, but definitely a big PR and a legit sub-19.  None of the faster folks showed up, so I ran by myself, although it was a 2-lap course so I did some people-dodging on lap 2.  Splits:

6:05, 5:59, 6:00, 25 sec for .08 (5:25 pace for the stub).

Overall Garmin had it at exactly 6:00 AP, which equates to an 18:39 5K time.  Definitely feeling good about my chances for 3:05 now.