Getting back to Boston

Easy 8 tonight afer Pam got back from Memphis, followed by hill sprints. Glutes were already sore from yesterday's mountain climbing, so they got a little extra stress tonight. Run itself was pretty routine; nice cool evening helped. It was even cooler in the fitness room. Then went outside for the sprints, deciding to get them over ASAP with minimal standing around. Jogged to the bottom, turned around and sprinted right back up. Decided I will run the 5K Saturday, now just have to register.

Another exciting episode of Beat the Cop tonight -- finish my run before the policeman kicked me out of the fitness room. Got a mile of it done early, trotting home from work due to being carless and Pam running late. Then ran 7 after Shan's birthday dinner, with fartlek 10 X 1:00 and closing with 1.4 at GMP. Finished before the cop arrived, but by how much can't say.

Tough 10-miler tonight. Not in terms of pace, but the legs just did not want to respond.  Really didn't get going until I accelerated to 8:30 pace for the last three miles. Ran home from work for the first mile (legs dead then, too), changed clothes and did a couple of errands, then ran 6 slow on the DM, then accelerated for the last 3.

Decided I'm gonna run the 5K Saturday, which means taper time after tonight. Legs are gonna need the break.

Seven easy tonight. Legs felt much better than last night or Monday. Still took me about 4 miles to really get going, though. Now a mini-taper for the 5K on Saturday. it would be nice to run a really good race; I kinda need a confidence booster right now, as I feel like I'm spinning my wheels to some extent.

Good progression run tonight, shortened due to mini-taper but still a good hard run. Went to the River Trail, where despite the unusually cool late summer weather, it was still around 80 and quite humid. The plan was to warm up with 2 miles, run back to the start at GMP or faster, and then warm down with another 2-mile jog. Went pretty well, except for the sweat blinding me. Warmed up, stopped for a stretch break, then took off at what turned out to be almost 10K pace for the two-mile return run. Ended up averaging about 7:32 for the two miles, then jogged out the 6, went and paid the power bill downtown, then went to McD for some high-calorie sustenance. Plan to do a slow jog tomorrow, either AM or PM, of about 4, then show up for the 5K on Saturday ready to go sub-22 (I may be kidding myself on that one, but we'll see how it goes).

Easy 4 tonight on the DM just to knock the kinks out before tomorrow's Clear Mountain 5K. The race is officially the Arkansas 5K state championship, not that I'm in competition for any of that. But it's a flat course, it's a course I know well, and I feel like I'm going to have a good race. Particularly if the weather cooperates (rain in the forecast). I'm also happy because Tyler is home from school for the first time, and he's in a really good mood, which is a lot different than what I've been hearing on the phone for the past 2.5 weeks. I think the adjustment is happening now. Unfortunately, Pam is coming down with a cold or flu or something, so I'm gonna have to keep my distance.

Awakened to the sound of my wife coughing, not a great start t the morning. Got to the course in plenty of time, got my bib and shirt, and started warming up. Left thigh did not want to loosen, even after a jog and a stretch. So I jogged some more, stretched some more, and ran some high-knee-lift stuff, and it finally came around right before the start.

Lined up a little farther back than I had planned (non-chip race). Wasn't that I got to the line so much slower -- it only took 4 seconds to cross the line -- but there were a lot of slower people lined up in front of me that I had to get around. It took 400-500 yards before I could run at the pace I wanted without traffic issues. Got to the first mile mark in 7:11, which is kinda what I had in mind -- low 7s early, try to save a little bit of energy and kick it home on the River Trail. Second mile was tough mentally. It was humid this morning, which always bothers me, and Riverfront just seemed to stretch on and on and on. But the second mile was also 7:11. I'm thinking, OK, I'm in business. Tried to make myself run faster even though the legs didn't want to speed up.

Third mile, turn off Riverfront, about 100 yards on Pike, then onto RT. I've run that stretch of RT probably 75-100 times, and I always try to push it, at least a little, once I get to the rail bridge. No different this time, even though the pain level was quite a bit higher than usual. Plus there was the incentive of people in range to be passed. I tried to pick off as many as I could. Third mile, according to the Garmin: 6:51. Got to the line and the timer just clicked past 22:00. With the 4-second delay in getting off the start, I'm giving myself an unofficial 21:57 -- PR by 23 seconds. We'll see what the official time is later in the day. But I'm proud of this run, because the PR didn't come from fitness, it came from mental discipline -- making myself run faster when I wanted to run slower. The kind of mental discipline I may need at mile 24 in Memphis to get that BQ time.

Official time: 22:01.80. Subtract my four seconds before the line (4.29 according to the Garmin) and it's 21:57.51. Seventh in age group, 66th overall men.