Nice and Easy

This morning was a nice and easy run of 4.2 miles in exactly 40 minutes. 9:31 pace. The run was mostly just to loosen us up enough to enjoy the long stretching routine afterwards. After the first half mile or so, I felt really good this morning. The weather was dreary, heavily overcast and 50 degrees, but not too bad really. Tomorrow for 3M the forecast is for possible rain. That would be a drag.

We chatted throughout the run today, running mostly with Liliana, Kelly, Frank, Patrick, Jan and Alex. It was a relaxing jaunt. I think we picked it up coming back a little bit, but I wasn't keeping individual splits, so that's just a guess.

The stretching afterwards felt great, and we all enjoyed the time together in our Saturday ritual. There's something about a routine that is comforting. I know that in work and everyday life, routine can seem depressing or suffocating, but in running and especially for pre-race preparation, it's nice to know that you always do the same thing the day before a race. For that matter, our extended routine goes back to the Thursday before the race, when we do the fartlek tuneup workout. That takes one more thing off your list of Things To Worry About in the days before a major race effort.

My plan for 3M tomorrow is to go out nice and comfortably, getting through the steepest downhill portion at a pace somewhere around marathon race pace (9:05-9:10/mile), and then perhaps pick it up just a bit for miles 5 through 12, maybe down to 9:00 average pace. For the last 1.1 miles, Gilbert wants us to back off and stay away from bombing down the steep downhill bits at the end of the course. I want to finish between 9:00 and 9:10 overall pace, and I want to feel really comfortable as I cross the finish line. This is a pure pace run and nothing more. It should be a fun day, despite the weather.