Tour of the 3M Course (and more)

This morning, we gathered and carpooled up to the start of the 3M Half Marathon course for our last lengthy run before Freescale. A sizeable group assembled, and we got started more or less right on time at 6:00 am. After the faster people eventually sped up and pulled away from us, we were left with Jan, Tracy, Henry and myself in my pace group. We passed the first mile mark, and Henry and Tracy had to make a stop and told us to go on. Jan kept on running, caught up with the faster people, and after I stayed behind to make sure Henry knew where the course was, I took off in pursuit of Jan. Our first mile plus was at about 9:55 pace, standard for the first mile of a long run. My next couple of miles were 8:03 and 9:10 as I ran down Jan during mile 3. We were both a little winded after running with faster people or, in my case, chasing down my partner. Mile 4 was mostly downhill, and we clicked off a 9:03 for that one as we chatted about a wide range of topics and caught our breath. We reached the first water stop after another mile or so at 9:30 pace. We talked with Frank and some of his group there at the stop, but they moved on ahead of us. We only stopped for about a minute and a half, and then continued our run. We wound our way through a neighborhood, and then popped out on busy Burnett street for a long straight shot. This section featured a few uphill stretches, and for the next 4 miles or so, we clicked along at about 9:35-9:45 pace, relaxing into the run. At the second water stop, we saw Frank, Margaret and Liliana, and after our own 2 minute GU and Powerade stop, we were off ourselves. Some hilly sections were ahead, but they were mild uphills. Next two miles were 9:35 and 9:33, and then we picked it up a bit for the last few miles. We passed the turnoff for the 3M Half, and continued on straight to get back to RunTex in time for the stretching session. 9:01, 9:31, and a last tour of Auditorium Shores for a short stretch at 8:30 pace.

All in all, 13.86 miles at 9:21/mile pace. My HR numbers were back to normal range for this sort of effort, so I think last weekend's cold has finally left me. I was very happy about this one in many ways. First, I was glad to have been able to recover pretty quickly in the run after the high speed section spent chasing Jan down after I stopped to give directions to Henry. Second, we were able to do the run with minimal stops, so the run was a better training test. Third, we clicked off a bunch of miles at marathon race pace or thereabouts. Last, we finished the run feeling pretty fresh, and that was the idea. Gilbert did not ask us to push the last few miles of the run today, and that was a nice change as we slowly start tapering for Freescale.

The stretching session was lots of fun. Gilbert had to leave early to teach a class at Gold's Gym, and I was left in charge of the stretching. There was a lot of groaning in some of the stretches, of course, and for some reason, that gave us all a case of the giggles. I think everyone is excited to be rolling toward Freescale, with most of the hard work behind us, and that showed in everyone's faces this morning.