Running With The Herd Again...

This morning, on a muggy, overcast day, I rejoined the Gazelles for the typical pre-race fartlek tuneup run. I formed a pack with Frank, Amy and Sean after drills and a short warmup run. Our 2.35 miles of fartleks (1:00 fast, 1:00 easy) averaged 8:12/mile, and it was a fun time. It felt really great to get out there with everyone again after missing Tuesday, and it was a treat to run with Frank and Sean, who usually are faster than me on this workout.

Most of the folks had to do the 4 mile tempo/time trial run, if they weren't racing this weekend, so we got a chance to cheer them on as they finished that effort. I was particularly impressed with Joseph, who blew away his existing personal best for the tempo run by maybe 2 minutes as he escorted Liliana during the run. Richard was chasing down Shannon right at the end of the run, too, but she held him off with a strong finish. I'm not sorry that I missed out on that particular workout. :)

After that, I had to hurry home so that I could get to our refinance closing, so I'll have to do the situps/pushups this evening. The refi was uneventful, and it'll be nice to get that boost in monthly available funds.

Tomorrow, another gym visit, and I might do a short run tomorrow as well. Saturday is very busy with the classical guitar festival, so I might be better suited to do my last run on Friday instead of Saturday. We'll see...

Schlotzsky's Bun Run 5K Goals:

My current Masters PR for 5K is 22:50 (7:22 pace), and I hope to blast past that on Sunday at the Bun Run. My comfortable goal is 22:49 (masters PR), mid-level hard goal is 22:30 (7:15 pace), and my stretch goal is 22:00 (7:05 pace). Again, I have no idea what to expect, but my recent 20x400m workout seems to give me a shot at my stretch goal. With a 5K, you just go out hard, and try to maintain that level of discomfort for a short 3.1 miles. It's a tough race, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.