Fly me to the moon...

I did an easy 2.5 with some stretching and strides. I could have done more, but I wanted to take it easy before the race tomorrow. My legs were also a little sore from the lake run on Wednesday. There are a lot of hills on that run.

We arrived, picked up our packets, and then found the rest of the team. My daughter and most of her cross country team and coach were running the race. I did about 1.5 warmup and did some stretching. I was feeling pretty good.

The race started on time and the leaders took off. My goal was 6 minutes/mile pace, but I wasn't sure if I could do that because the course is a really hilly trail run. I wanted to be controlled on the first mile and not go out too hard. I hit the mile in 5:57, which was right on pace. The wheels fell off a little bit at that point. If I heard the time correctly, I hit two miles in 12:58, so I slowed down to 7 minute pace. I didn't get my watch going at the start. The high school coach, Kate, passed me around the mile mark. I tried to stay with her, but it wasn't happening. With about 0.75 miles to go, I started catching up to one of the high school guys from our team. I finally caught him around the 3 mile mark where the course turns a corner and heads up a large hill to the finish. When I passed him, I told him to not let me beat him. With about 10 meters to go, he blew past me. I probably could have won, but I wanted him to finish strong and catch me before the end to give him some confidence. Right before the race, the assistant coach told me that he told the guys to not let me beat them. He wanted to give them some extra motivation. Three of them beat me plus the coach, but I think I did okay considering the coach is over 20 years younger than me and just finished a successful running career in college a couple years ago. I am almost 3 times the age of the guys on the team. I finished in 20:44 for 37th place overall. I was first in my age division by more than 3 minutes.

I thought it was a fun and a well organized race. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but the day before was long. I worked outside in the yard quite a bit, had a late dinner, and didn't get to sleep until really late. It was not ideal preparation for a race but understandable with a family to take care of.

Three miles in the evening. I didn't get a chance to run in the morning, so I tried to wait until the evening when it was a little cooler. It was still hot and very humid. Total time was 24:52 I believe. My right knee was hurting a little on the kneecap. It feels like I bruised it on the outside like I ran into something. Not sure what that is.

I did a workout with my daughter and a couple of her friends from the team. We did a 1.3 warmup, 6x800m on the track, and then I did another 2.2 for a cooldown. I paced the girls for their workout. I stayed with my daughter for all but the last one when I ran hard the last lap. Times were 3:41, 3:36, 3:40, 3:39, 3:36, and 3:27 with about 2 minutes rest in between. They took a longer rest (about 6 minutes) after the third one for a water break. I got 3:13 on the last one. The girls did well. I was expecting around 3:45 pace for my daughter and slower for her best friend, but they exceeded that. Her other friend was more inconsistent but did well considering she hasn't run much this summer. My knee didn't give me any trouble.

Easy 3.2 with my daughter and her friend.

Ran from the high school to Riddle elementary school and back for about 4.3.

I did the workout with my daughter and her friend. They were doing mile repeats with 3 minutes rest in between. We did a mile warmup and stretched. They couldn't decide where they wanted to do the repeats so for the first one we just ran until the watch said 1 mile. Not my idea and the time was 8:47 because we didn't know where she was leading us. For the next two, we did it on a mile loop on the streets near the high school. Before we started, I ran back to get their water bottles, which added a half mile to my total. My daughter and I did the next two in 7:37 and 7:17. That last one was getting down near her target pace for 3 miles. It was an okay workout but could have gone better. It is the week before school starts, and Illinois has a rule that there can't be any official practices or contact with coaches. This week has been all on the team to do it on their own. From what I have observed, they have done a pretty good job getting together and doing the workouts. We have mostly been meeting at the high school with a friend or two of my daughter, and most of the guys have been there every day. It is good to see. We finished the workout with 1.25 miles for cooldown and stretching.

An easy 4.5 out past Walgreens and back. Time was 34:10 (7:36/mile). It felt good. It has been much cooler and low humidity the past few days, which has been amazing.

An easy 5 miles in the afternoon. It felt good with a few sprinkles and cloudy, cooler temps. Time was 38:31 (7:42/mile).

Around 3.65 miles out past Walgreens and back. I wanted to go more, but I didn't have time. Kids went back to school today and had to get back to watch the baby. Time was 28:09.

Quick evening run down to the school and back. Kids are back in school so it tends to be harder to get out and run.

Another evening run out on my Walgreens loop.

Now I am back in school for the semester, so it may be even harder to get out for a run. This was a quick loop out to Walgreens and back.

Nice run out past the elementary school. It felt good to get out after not running most of the week. Hip felt a little sore but overall okay. Time for 4 miles was 31:10.