Getting back to Boston

Very happy with today's run. Dawdled around and didn't leave for the trails until nearly 10, started around 10:15. Didn't have the Garmin again (but at least it turned on this morning; I was already looking for a replacement on eBay last night), but the new watch did what I needed given that the trail has distance markers. Felt like I started reallllllly sllooooowww, but it couldn't have been that slow. Before long I was clipping off 9:00 miles, and felt really comfortable doing it. Got a little confused on the outward section and ran an extra loop of maybe 0.1 mile, so I added about 30 seconds before the turnaround to make the inner and outward halves about equal.

The original plan was to run a comfortable pace for the first 9.5 or so and then pick it up for the last 20 minutes. Didn't work out that way. Felt so comfortable that I picked it up immediately on the turnaround. That last 6.05, according to the $9 Walmart watch, took 48:18. That, folks, is GMP for me. I was sucking wind pretty good for the last mile or so, but kept going at a pretty good clip. I'd bet I was well under GMP for the first five miles after the turnaround. Definitely a confidence builder for the half marathon in six days.

Runnin' in the rain tonight. Pam looked at me like I was crazy when I was getting ready. She's probably right. Wind blowing rain right into my face. My allegedly water-repellant pants aren't. Trail still doesn't drain worth a darn, even with all the undulations and a bridge over a creek (where the biggest puddle lies). Felt really reasy, but I averaged just over 9:00. Maybe I have reset my governor to where 9:00 is easy and 7:30ish is doable. I guess I may find that out Saturday morning. Little tempo run tomorrow night, thunderstorms permitting, then back it down for the rest of the week. Needed to run tonight anyway after last night's emotional trauma. This ain't getting any easier as the weeks go on, y'all.

Very encouraging tempo run tonight. If this holds up, I should be blastin' Saturday morning. Warmed up for a mile and a half, then set up at what I hoped would be slightly faster than HMP speed. Five laps around the park. First lap at 7:29 pace. Close to what I wanted, but felt pretty good, so picked it up a bit more. Second lap 7:18, although I didn't know that exactly. Decided to try to maintain that one. Slipped just a tad on lap 3, to 7:21, although didn't know that exactly either. Lap 4, picked it up to 7:18. It occurred to me that I might be threatening my 5K PR on a tempo run! Decided to let 'er rip on the last lap, and ran it at 7:11 pace, then added another tenth of a mile for good measure. Wound up with 29:52 for 4.09 miles at pace, a 7:17 average. And laps 2-5 combined, which were slightly more than a 5K, worked out to about 22:40 for the 5K, only 43 seconds over my PR. If I'd been running an all-out 5K tonight, I think I would have gotten the PR. Finished the entire 7 mile run, warmup and cooldown included, in 57 and change.

Noticed something weird last night, in looking at a VDOT chart, which I haven't done in a while. Every single one of my PR times, 5K through marathon, falls between 44 and 45 on the VDOT. I'd say I'm pretty consistent there. Now to find a way to get them all into the 46-47 range. That would be something like 21:20 for the 5K, 44:00 for the 10K, 1:37:30 for the half, and 3:22 for the marathon.

Four and a quarter. Very easy. Delayed by thunderstorm. About all that need be said.

Oh, finally remembered to go back and look up the results of the Freezing 5K. Turns out I finished 13th overall! No ages listed, but I betcha if there'd been AG awards, I'd have won one. No such luck, however. Figures. I finally win AG (maybe) and there's no AG to win.

Had to fight to stay awake all afternoon at work (partly lack of sleep, partly boredom, possibly partly due to sugar crash after cookies with lunch). Even took a nap when I got home, then got up at 7 to jog 3 miles. I'm feeling really confident about Saturday, which probably will come back to bite me. But I'll take a crack at a good time anyway.

One last easy jog to shake out the kinks before the rac. I'm on the h ill up to the park, and Brooks pulls up beside me. He was taking a shortcut through the park to Shiloh, apparently. Weird. Run was slow. Legs a little tight, but I can stretch tonight, Gonna head for the expo in  Bentonville soon, then to the pasta feed.

Score another one for the old man. I don't think I'm getting any (or much) faster, but I'm getting tougher.

Raw, blustery day on the Bentonville square, with occasional misting rain and more wind than I'd prefer. Took a warmup jog, but didn't stretch as much as I should. Race began, and I soon discovered what I needed to be stretching was the glutes. They just were not loosening up.

My goal was to put down 7:30 miles. Did that -- for one mile. Then 7:42, 7:26 (better), 7:36, 7:47, 7:41. Hit the 10K in 47:22, I think, which was so-so. Glutes still hurt. I decided to forget about the 7:30s and just try to maintain over the second half of the course. Little did I know what that meant.

Mile 7 was 7:36, then 7:30. More like it. I started locking in on people ahead of me to catch and pass, and gradually succeeded. Then 7:35, 7:24. Mile 11 had a HUGE downhill in it; I half expected Lindsey Vonn to go by me in her tuck. Ran that mile in 7:04. At that point, the legs felt dead. I'm just telling myself to maintain. Fortunately, there was a couple of miles of flat to recover. Ran those is 7:48, 7:47. Then we got to a mega-climb. I talked to a woman I know afterward who ran Boston last year. She said this climb makes Heartbreak look like a pimple. Ran mile 13 in 7:56, but man, I was PASSING some people on that hill, including the last of the people I locked on to several miles back. Then we popped out on to Main Street less than a quarter mile from the finish and I hauled some serious butt with what little I had left.

Official time (gun) 1:39:36, (chip) 1:39:30, PR by 59 seconds. Think I might have left a little bit of my race out on that tempo run Tuesday night, but I can't complain about a 59-second PR. And a top-10-percent finish (83rd out of 888) doesn't hurt either.

BTW, for a brand-new race, I thought this one was run pretty well. Traffic control was very good, the expo was nice, they had stuff to keep you entertained in the Square before and after the race. I might have to run it again next year as my last tuneup for The Boston.