Fly me to the moon...

Easy 4.5 in the late morning on my Walgreens loop. Time was 34:46.

I decided to do a little harder workout today. The high school team was doing a ladder workout starting with a mile and going down. I wanted to do a little speed to get some confidence going into a local 5K I plan to do on Saturday but didn't want to do the ladder workout. I decided to do 4x800 with about 2.5 to 3 minutes rest in between. I did 1.5 warmup, stretched, and started the 800s. I want to race at 6 minute/mile pace on Saturday, so my target was 3 minutes per rep. My times were 3:04, 3:05, 3:09, and 3:04. It felt pretty good, but it was probably harder than it should have been even with doing most of it on the grass. I finished with about 1.25 and some stretching.

This was a morning run around Lake Charleston with the high school team and the rival high school team from Charleston. They usually try to do a few practices together over the summer and season. I ran with the girls rather than the boys because I only wanted to run one loop around the lake instead of two. At one point, I turned around and ran about a half mile back to catch up to some of the slower runners. I didn't want anyone to get lost, and it is pretty easy to get lost on the numerous trails that cross back and forth. It felt pretty good, but it was super humid that day. That is something I miss about running out west. You don't get super sweaty and sticky after a mile like you do in the midwest. It just evaporates away.

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.