Lightning Can Make You Faster (A Long Run Tale...)

Friday was spent doing other stuff, and I felt sufficiently leg-weary that a full day off seemed to be in order. It's been a great running/exercise week, and a day off fit right in with that. I'll get that second gym workout in on Sunday.

Anyway, this morning Frank, Alex, Liliana and I gathered at an alternate starting spot for our long run (well, medium long, 10 miles) at 6:00. We started at the Rock near Mopac, and it was drizzling/raining and there was lightning crashing all around when we got there. It was also pretty darned chilly compared to how it's been lately. Probably 55 degrees and breezy as the last cool front of the season blew through. We waited the weather out for a while, and got underway right at 6:30. We started out nice and easy, and by the time we reached Auditorium Shores, at about 2.2 miles in, we had warmed up to a good solid pace. Somewhere behind the Austin American Statesman, my GPS totally lost tracking, and stuck on 2.66 miles for a long time. I tidied up things later with Topo Fusion, but the early miles are approximate. At about 4 miles in, we made a really quick stop for hydration adjustments, and the GPS found its satellite friends while we were stationary. So, 4.15 miles into the run, we were overall at about 9:30/mile pace after some really easy miles early. It changed from there, of course.

After that, we boogied on pretty well, watching the dark skies build overhead. I think the threat of incoming weather encouraged us to pick things up, and the pace got quicker. We knocked off a couple of miles in the 8:30 range, took our last brief water/GU stop (1:23 in length), and roared on. We averaged about 8:45/mile for the rest of the run, chatting all the way, and finished the 10.1 mile loop in 1:30:26, or 8:57/mile pace. HR numbers were pretty good, and we were pleased with our effort. Frank and Liliana had to get home for various soccer and childcare duties, but Alex and I decided to go over to RunTex to watch our fellow Gazelles in the Texas Roundup 10k and do the stretching.

We piled into my car, turned on the heated seats, and generally enjoyed warming back up after the chilly run. While we drove over, the weather changed to rain again, and it was even cooler, at 53 degrees and wet. As we walked towards RunTex, we noticed that the race course was still being occupied with cars, and that there were no runners in sight. The race was supposed to have started at 8:00, and it was 8:15 by now. In the distance, we heard the familiar air horn, signalling the start of the race. We later found out that it was delayed due to lightning in the area. We crossed over to RunTex, and stood under the eave of the building as the rain started really pouring down. Peter was there after his run this morning, still recovering from Boston. We saw all of our peeps go by, and were a pretty good cheering section, especially for the Gazelles. I yelled in particular for Jan, Amy and Shannon, my pacing peeps. They looked strong when they went by us, about the 4 mile mark of the race.

After the last Gazelle, however, there were still tons of runners working hard. We stood there for 40 more minutes, cheering and clapping, and those poor runners getting soaked and cold needed the boost. We finally gave up cheering after 9:00, and Alex and I found our way inside the RunTex covered storage building for some stretching. While we were there, the Rogue Training folks started filtering in after their race. It was fun to hear them talk about the race.

I heard from Jan as we finished up the stretching, and she sounded happy about her race. It was nice to catch up with her after she had to miss Gazelles this past week. Alex bailed out and headed home, to dry off and then to go the gym (what a monster! :)).

It was a good day at the running office. I'm excited about the half marathon next weekend, and from now till then, it'll be Taper City as I build up strength and reserves for that effort in Indianapolis.