I needed a good run today in Conway to boost my confidence with a marathon in four weeks. I got one. I didn't run as fast as I had hoped, but I got a nice PR by 3:42. That in spite of running through a thunderstorm with extremely heavy rain and plenty of puddles to splash through. I started out too conservatively, due in part to tight hammies, as well as the failure of my Garmin to fully charge up this week; it quit on me on the drive up there. So I was flying a bit blind on pacing. My pacing was not too far off, just a little slower than I had hoped. I think the rain and lightning were bigger issues, at least psychologically. But by halfway, the hammies were loose and there was a downhill and I was ready to let it out. I'm prettty sure it was a negative split; the timer at 3 miles called 22:35 or something, so I ran the last 3.22 in around 23:19. Could I have run faster? Yeah, the first half was too conservative. But I got what I wanted -- a good time going into Newport. | 