Saturday, 11/10, it was time for the last super long run before White Rock. There's not many of us doing that race, so it was a small crew that met at 5:45 for the start of the 20-22 miler. The course was the out and back Shoal Creek run, with the finish on backwards Scenic. 21.5 for the full Monty, about 20 if you cut it by returning via Exposition.
As I've mentioned, I was still a little spooked by my illness earlier in the week, so I wasn't sure I would be able to do much with this run. I figured I'd start out with everyone, pick a nice solid pace, and just see how it went. I had all sorts of bailout options along the way, depending on how my body was reacting and how much energy I actually had. So, it was with some trepidation that I set out for the jaunt.
I settled in with Larry by the first water stop, and I figured he'd soon grow bored with my pace and would move on to catch Randy and Lizette ahead of us, leaving me to cruise the miles with only my thoughts to entertain me. However, he kept assuring me as we went up Exposition that he was happy with the pace, given that he'd run a 50 miler last weekend, and he was racing the 10 Miler in the morning. What a running animal!!
So, the second water/Accelerade stop came and went at Shoal Creek, and I was still feeling pretty good. The pace was solid, and my body seemed ready to continue. All the while, we were talking up a storm. Now, as many of you know, I'm not exactly a reticent individual. Chattering away as we run is usually my forte'. But, Larry is a nonstop source of discussion topics, and on this day, I really appreciated the fact that I could be entertained as we slogged out the miles.
Sooner than I had imagined, we were at the turnaround at Foster, and I was still feeling pretty darned good. Sure, I knew deep down that I was a little lower on stored energy than usual, but Larry kept assuring me that we were doing fine, so I just kept on cruising. We were at 1:38:00 and change at the turnaround, about 10 miles or so, which rolls out to about 9:45/mile, including all the water stops. Pretty nice, and well within training pace range.
Coming back, it still felt pretty good, and at Shoal Creek, I decided that I might as well head home on the longer route option, just in case I kept feeling good. If things caved in, I'd still probably get in 20 miles, and if I felt strong, then I just had to finish the course instead of trying to manufacture additional mileage going the other way. Larry agreed, and so we went on down 35th Street and hit the Backwards Scenic finish. We got a splash and go at the Dry Cleaners, since the weather was a bit muggy and slightly warmer than we've had lately. Still, it was a decent weather day. No real complaints there.
Scenic was actually pretty fun, and again, before I knew it, we were at the last Official Water Stop at Lake Austin and Enfield. 4 miles to go, 17.4 in the books, and I was actually almost dancing when I thought about actually finishing this thing after the week I had had. The whole dancing thing passed quickly from my mind, but honestly, I was pretty pepped up when I took physical inventory at that last stop.
That one in the books, we just had to finish the thing up. I hung with Larry and let him sort of carry me, in a metaphysical manner, down Lake Austin Blvd. to the trail. After negotiating the usual knot of runners at the Mopac bridge, we settled in for those last couple of miles. At this point, I was having some serious internal discussions with myself. Stuff like, "Okay, at the bottom of the little hill after the railroad tracks, I'm going to stop and take a walk." But, Larry was not aware of the voices in my head, and just kept talking me through the miles, so I kept running. More discussions followed, and again and again, I was able to ignore those seductive voices suggesting that I should stop running. I notice that my pace fell off during that mile, but I was still motoring along. Larry finally decided to have a bit of a fast finish with about a half mile to go, but by then, he had done his job, and I was able to pick it up a bit myself for that last half mile. Nice.
Finally, I was at the water coolers, and I could stop running. I owe Larry a huge debt of gratitude for helping me with this difficult run. I'm not sure I would have done as well without his cheerful company and encouragement. Once again, that's the sort of thing that makes me happy to be a Gazelle. It's the people that we run with that make this group what it is, under the leadership of the Pied Piper, Gilbert. On a morning that I was pretty sure would end in a truncated run, I was able to finish the full distance (21.4 miles) at a pace that was totally acceptable.
Final stats were 21.4 miles at 9:58/mile average pace, including all water stop time. Actual running pace was around 9:18/mile. Those were both good numbers for me. Sure, I didn't have the Fast Finish that I've enjoyed the last several times out, but under the conditions, this was a big win for me.
Now, I've just got to continue to improve my energy stores, enjoy these last 4 weeks of sharpening and tapering, and run a marathon. The hardest work is now done.
Thanks again to Larry for carrying me today. Awesome!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Friday, November 09, 2007
EAS Volunteer Stuff and a Pretty Neat Event [Entered 11/10]
Okay, Friday I felt better, but still a little logy from time to time. No running, but lots of fluid intake, eating, and general pampering trying to bring me back up to speed. Still 4 pounds off Monday's morning weigh-in, but I have regained some of my lost self.
Friday, I visited RunTex to grab some coolers from Gilbert so that I could populate the hydration stations for the handful of us going long on Saturday for White Rock. I yacked with a bunch of my fellow Gazelle volunteers there, and scored my volunteer shirts. It should be fun and interesting to be volunteering on Sunday, especially after having seen so much of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on one of these races. It's pretty amazing what all goes into the seemingly simple act of putting on a road race.
Friday night was the last football game for Anderson High School, so we went to see Jake perform with the marching band for the last time this year down at the Burger Stadium. Anderson was playing Akins, which has had a tough year, so we expected a win for our team. The game was very tight, though, 14-7 at halftime after Anderson went for it at the Akins 2 yard line with time running out at the half. They failed to convert, and trailed at the half. The band played great at the half, including a snappy version of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon," which is a great tune. Anyway, the second half was a back-and-forth affair, and Anderson kept messing up extra points, with two of them blocked, and one missed. In fact, one of the blocked PATs was returned for a 2-point score by Akins. Things looked grim, but Anderson scratched and clawed, and managed to tie up the game very late in the fourth quarter. Akins had a tiny bit of time, though, and came down the field, leaving themselves an opportunity for a game-winning 50 yard field goal. Their coach let the clock run down to 3 seconds so that Anderson wouldn't get a chance to do anything after the kick, and called time out.
Okay, by now, parents in the stands were conferring with each other to see if we play overtime in high school in Texas (we do). We were pretty sure the guy couldn't kick a 50 yarder, so the mood was watchful, but not super nervous. The ball was snapped, the kick was partially blocked, and a lineman type picked up the ball around the 15 yard line. We started yelling that they could return the ball, which the guy knew, of course. He looked around and tossed the ball to Anderson's best player, a senior named R.P. (can't make this stuff up), and somehow, R.P. managed to weave his way through the entire Akins team, 85 yards, for the winning touchdown on the final play of his final game as an Anderson football player. It was really electrifying...honestly!
The coolest thing was right after, though. You could sense all the crowd yelling but holding their breath at the same time (impossible, but stay with me), willing R.P. through the collected players, and then in a microsecond, someone decided to let their excitement bubble over, and the psychological barrier was broken, and 100's of students swarmed the field, running down to pile on the football players and R.P., who was no doubt at the bottom of a heavy pile of humanity. The pure spontaneity of the swarm was a beautiful thing to see, and to their credit, the police on site didn't go nuts, and let the celebration of the freak play go on without too much interference. It was damned cool to see.
So, after a while, and after the poor Akins guys picked themselves up off the field where they had fallen during the runback, and after the post-game handshakes, the football team was joined by all those students on the field for the singing of the school song at the end of the game. It was one of the best things I've seen in a while.
And, for R.P., this was perhaps the highlight of his entire life. Maybe not, but geez...to win the game on such a spectacular play on the last play of your high school football career? I'm not sure how it gets better than that. Wow.
Friday, I visited RunTex to grab some coolers from Gilbert so that I could populate the hydration stations for the handful of us going long on Saturday for White Rock. I yacked with a bunch of my fellow Gazelle volunteers there, and scored my volunteer shirts. It should be fun and interesting to be volunteering on Sunday, especially after having seen so much of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on one of these races. It's pretty amazing what all goes into the seemingly simple act of putting on a road race.
Friday night was the last football game for Anderson High School, so we went to see Jake perform with the marching band for the last time this year down at the Burger Stadium. Anderson was playing Akins, which has had a tough year, so we expected a win for our team. The game was very tight, though, 14-7 at halftime after Anderson went for it at the Akins 2 yard line with time running out at the half. They failed to convert, and trailed at the half. The band played great at the half, including a snappy version of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon," which is a great tune. Anyway, the second half was a back-and-forth affair, and Anderson kept messing up extra points, with two of them blocked, and one missed. In fact, one of the blocked PATs was returned for a 2-point score by Akins. Things looked grim, but Anderson scratched and clawed, and managed to tie up the game very late in the fourth quarter. Akins had a tiny bit of time, though, and came down the field, leaving themselves an opportunity for a game-winning 50 yard field goal. Their coach let the clock run down to 3 seconds so that Anderson wouldn't get a chance to do anything after the kick, and called time out.
Okay, by now, parents in the stands were conferring with each other to see if we play overtime in high school in Texas (we do). We were pretty sure the guy couldn't kick a 50 yarder, so the mood was watchful, but not super nervous. The ball was snapped, the kick was partially blocked, and a lineman type picked up the ball around the 15 yard line. We started yelling that they could return the ball, which the guy knew, of course. He looked around and tossed the ball to Anderson's best player, a senior named R.P. (can't make this stuff up), and somehow, R.P. managed to weave his way through the entire Akins team, 85 yards, for the winning touchdown on the final play of his final game as an Anderson football player. It was really electrifying...honestly!
The coolest thing was right after, though. You could sense all the crowd yelling but holding their breath at the same time (impossible, but stay with me), willing R.P. through the collected players, and then in a microsecond, someone decided to let their excitement bubble over, and the psychological barrier was broken, and 100's of students swarmed the field, running down to pile on the football players and R.P., who was no doubt at the bottom of a heavy pile of humanity. The pure spontaneity of the swarm was a beautiful thing to see, and to their credit, the police on site didn't go nuts, and let the celebration of the freak play go on without too much interference. It was damned cool to see.
So, after a while, and after the poor Akins guys picked themselves up off the field where they had fallen during the runback, and after the post-game handshakes, the football team was joined by all those students on the field for the singing of the school song at the end of the game. It was one of the best things I've seen in a while.
And, for R.P., this was perhaps the highlight of his entire life. Maybe not, but geez...to win the game on such a spectacular play on the last play of your high school football career? I'm not sure how it gets better than that. Wow.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
...And the Running Gods Strike Back [Entered 11/10]
Well, after having such a good pace run on Monday, and then a nice relaxing 35 minute cruise on Tuesday morning, I was looking forward to doing the scheduled Wednesday workout of fartleks here in the 'Hood. As Stephen A. Smith would say, though, "HowEVah" the Powers That Control Things conspired to throw me down early on Wednesday morning with illness and destruction upon my poor little body. Was it the Arby's sandwich that I had at lunch? A stray microbe from some other establishment or food item? Or just God playing dice (which Einstein sez HE doesn't do)?
Who really knows? At any rate, I was laid low all day on Wednesday, as weak as a little kitten. I slowly crawled back to normalcy by Thursday, although I still felt like I was hungover and depleted. Yuck.
Too much sharing here in the Blogosphere? Probably. But, it is an element of entries to come.
Who really knows? At any rate, I was laid low all day on Wednesday, as weak as a little kitten. I slowly crawled back to normalcy by Thursday, although I still felt like I was hungover and depleted. Yuck.
Too much sharing here in the Blogosphere? Probably. But, it is an element of entries to come.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Pace Running
Monday it was time for a marathon goal pace run. Now, let me give full disclosure here, and point out that it is rare indeed that a group of Gazelles actually runs this workout at true Marathon Goal Pace (MGP). Something about the innate character of our herd makes it more of a race effort than MGP, but again, that might be just me running too fast.
The plan was to go an easy 2 miles, then pick up the last 8 miles of the Longhorn Dam Loop at MGP, or, as Gilbert suggested this morning, "Maybe a little bit faster than MGP." "Little bit" was left to the individual runner to decipher. My tentative MGP is 8:30-8:35 per mile, for a marathon goal of 3:40-3:45. I will further point out that my last two attempts at long pace runs with the group were miserable failures in the August/September time frame. I walked in on both of them, which contributed to my decision to bail on Chicago. So, today's run was very important to me on a psychological level. The physical part was just dragging my body around the trail, and wasn't nearly as critical to me as the mere fact of setting a pace and maintaining it for 8 miles, battling whatever mental daemons that might decide to visit. Weighty stuff, huh?
Anyway, about 8 of us rolled out at 5:45 on a 60 degree morning and began our journey around the trail. The two warmup miles were actually quicker than I sometimes run them, but that's more normal behavior from the group as it nervously approaches the task at hand. A quick drink of water at the rest stop on the trail, and it was time to go! Frank rolled away in a hurry, it seemed like, and Randy and Marcy also got a big lead when they decided to skip that initial water break. I found myself running by myself, trailing some of the Philly marathoners (Ward, Dennis and RuthAnn). My first mile was way quicker than I had anticipated, at 7:55, so I tried to dial the pace down on mile 2. This was unknown territory, since I haven't raced in quite a while, and as noted above, I didn't want to go out too fast and then have to slow to a crawl late. Prudent judgment of pace is the name of the game on this workout, after all. Hence the name...
Anyway, I settled down into a rhythm that felt relatively comfortable and sustainable, and just kept on a'rolling around the trail. It was pretty pleasant, and except for some concentration required on the scattered uphill bumps of the trail, I felt pretty relaxed about the whole deal. Miles rolled by, and I was checking my splits irregularly, just to make sure I wasn't going too far one way or the other off my pace. That groove took me all the way to the finish.
It was a pleasant change to have the sun come up during the workout, so we could actually see the trail surface quite well after about mile 3. That made a big difference to me today, in that I was much more secure about my footing and could just focus on the running effort instead of worrying about a misstep into a hole in the trail. I saw Randy and Marcy grabbing a quick cup of water at Mopac, but I just decided to keep on going to the finish. Let's call it racing strategy. :-) RuthAnn was taking a short water break as well on the Mopac footbridge, so I eased around her as well.
As I entered the last couple of miles, I could sense RuthAnn trailing along behind me. I didn't turn around, but judging from others who were on the trail at that time, it couldn't have been anyone other than her. I used that to keep me honest over that last stretch, making sure I kept the pace up to the finish. I only looked back one time, on the Barton Springs footbridge. It was just a quick glance, and I saw her orange singlet in my peripheral vision. Okey dokey. I could hold her off for a mile, couldn't I? I used all the sneaky racing tricks over that last mile...speeding up on any sort of rise in the trail, putting on short bursts going around corners, and accelerating a tiny bit if I heard her footsteps getting a little louder. It was sort of fun to be able to do all that for a change!
Anyway, the finish line came and went, and it was a fabulous pace run! MGP? Well, probably not, but for me, the value of having run a consistent pace effort trumped any value in having done it at my perceived MGP. What are the stats, you say? For the day, it was 10.1 miles at 8:19/mile, including the short water stop, the early warmup miles, and the pace miles. Snappy! My 8 miles of pace running were knocked out thusly: 7:55, 8:14, 8:00, 8:02, 7:52, 7:53, 7:56, 7:40, and a final 100 yards at 7:02/mile pace. The 8 pace miles were at an average of 7:56/mile, quite a bit quicker than my proposed 8:30/mile MGP.
This was a big win for my psyche today, even if it told me next to nothing about what my MGP should actually be for White Rock. :-) Oh, yeah, this was the second workout in my new speedy shoes, Mizuno Precision 7's. My Filas have expired, and the newest iteration of that shoe has not yet been released. Schade. The Precisions work nicely, although I'm not sure if they'll be my marathon shoes. Probably, but I'm not for sure yet.
Basically, the rest of the week is easy street, marking time until the 20-22 miler on Saturday. I'm looking forward to that run in a big way.
The plan was to go an easy 2 miles, then pick up the last 8 miles of the Longhorn Dam Loop at MGP, or, as Gilbert suggested this morning, "Maybe a little bit faster than MGP." "Little bit" was left to the individual runner to decipher. My tentative MGP is 8:30-8:35 per mile, for a marathon goal of 3:40-3:45. I will further point out that my last two attempts at long pace runs with the group were miserable failures in the August/September time frame. I walked in on both of them, which contributed to my decision to bail on Chicago. So, today's run was very important to me on a psychological level. The physical part was just dragging my body around the trail, and wasn't nearly as critical to me as the mere fact of setting a pace and maintaining it for 8 miles, battling whatever mental daemons that might decide to visit. Weighty stuff, huh?
Anyway, about 8 of us rolled out at 5:45 on a 60 degree morning and began our journey around the trail. The two warmup miles were actually quicker than I sometimes run them, but that's more normal behavior from the group as it nervously approaches the task at hand. A quick drink of water at the rest stop on the trail, and it was time to go! Frank rolled away in a hurry, it seemed like, and Randy and Marcy also got a big lead when they decided to skip that initial water break. I found myself running by myself, trailing some of the Philly marathoners (Ward, Dennis and RuthAnn). My first mile was way quicker than I had anticipated, at 7:55, so I tried to dial the pace down on mile 2. This was unknown territory, since I haven't raced in quite a while, and as noted above, I didn't want to go out too fast and then have to slow to a crawl late. Prudent judgment of pace is the name of the game on this workout, after all. Hence the name...
Anyway, I settled down into a rhythm that felt relatively comfortable and sustainable, and just kept on a'rolling around the trail. It was pretty pleasant, and except for some concentration required on the scattered uphill bumps of the trail, I felt pretty relaxed about the whole deal. Miles rolled by, and I was checking my splits irregularly, just to make sure I wasn't going too far one way or the other off my pace. That groove took me all the way to the finish.
It was a pleasant change to have the sun come up during the workout, so we could actually see the trail surface quite well after about mile 3. That made a big difference to me today, in that I was much more secure about my footing and could just focus on the running effort instead of worrying about a misstep into a hole in the trail. I saw Randy and Marcy grabbing a quick cup of water at Mopac, but I just decided to keep on going to the finish. Let's call it racing strategy. :-) RuthAnn was taking a short water break as well on the Mopac footbridge, so I eased around her as well.
As I entered the last couple of miles, I could sense RuthAnn trailing along behind me. I didn't turn around, but judging from others who were on the trail at that time, it couldn't have been anyone other than her. I used that to keep me honest over that last stretch, making sure I kept the pace up to the finish. I only looked back one time, on the Barton Springs footbridge. It was just a quick glance, and I saw her orange singlet in my peripheral vision. Okey dokey. I could hold her off for a mile, couldn't I? I used all the sneaky racing tricks over that last mile...speeding up on any sort of rise in the trail, putting on short bursts going around corners, and accelerating a tiny bit if I heard her footsteps getting a little louder. It was sort of fun to be able to do all that for a change!
Anyway, the finish line came and went, and it was a fabulous pace run! MGP? Well, probably not, but for me, the value of having run a consistent pace effort trumped any value in having done it at my perceived MGP. What are the stats, you say? For the day, it was 10.1 miles at 8:19/mile, including the short water stop, the early warmup miles, and the pace miles. Snappy! My 8 miles of pace running were knocked out thusly: 7:55, 8:14, 8:00, 8:02, 7:52, 7:53, 7:56, 7:40, and a final 100 yards at 7:02/mile pace. The 8 pace miles were at an average of 7:56/mile, quite a bit quicker than my proposed 8:30/mile MGP.
This was a big win for my psyche today, even if it told me next to nothing about what my MGP should actually be for White Rock. :-) Oh, yeah, this was the second workout in my new speedy shoes, Mizuno Precision 7's. My Filas have expired, and the newest iteration of that shoe has not yet been released. Schade. The Precisions work nicely, although I'm not sure if they'll be my marathon shoes. Probably, but I'm not for sure yet.
Basically, the rest of the week is easy street, marking time until the 20-22 miler on Saturday. I'm looking forward to that run in a big way.
Mt. Bonnell over and over [Entered 11/5/07]
And once again, I return to blogging about running and various ancillary subjects. While I was running today (Saturday) with Amy, she asked me why I wasn't writing lately. I mumbled that I was bummed out about how my training was going in late August and September, and so I just quit writing back then because I felt mopey about it. It's that low running self-esteem thing rearing its ugly head again. But, I'm going to get back in the habit of doing this blog because for one thing, it keeps me accountable in a tentative, virtual way.
So, what's been going on? Well, I bailed on going to Chicago for the marathon, which turned out to be an accidentally good decision. Who knew they'd have historically bad weather this year? Not me. But, my long training runs had been pretty terrible in September, and having to walk in on most of the 20 milers wasn't building any confidence. So, I decided at the end of September to reset my marathon target as the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December. That way, I'd get 10 weeks or more extra to train, while searching for my running mojo.
Almost immediately, I started doing better on the long runs and other workouts. The cooler weather also helped, of course, but it was also a function of regaining confidence little by little as target workouts came and went. I've had 3 really great 20 milers since then, and I've even been able to throw down some fast finishes at the end of those long runs, which was not happening at all in the summer. That brings us to today's tour of Mountain Bonnell.
We had our next-to-last 20 miler last weekend, which went great. This week we went for an easy 7 miler on Monday (I ran with Frank, which was fun), and then we had 6 x 1200m on the track on Wednesday. My times on the 1200s weren't as spiffy as last year at this time, but they were still plenty strong for my marathon goals this year.
Today, we started off with everyone, including all the AT&T folks, for a journey up to Mt. Bonnell. I really like this run for some reason. I guess rolling hills suit my particular running strengths, whatever those may be. I ran with a pod of folks, but mostly hung out with Amy. This was a rare opportunity to run the whole route with her, since we were finally on the same workout on a Saturday. For the most part, I was running today for strength and for fun, as it was sandwiched in between the two more important 20+ milers. It still had some testy bits as the road turned upward, but it was still loads of fun. Weather was nice again, in the high 50s, and that made for an enjoyable day.
Once we navigated through Scenic and up to the top of Bonnell the first time, it was an opportunity to do a GU and enjoy some chilled sports beverages with the peeps. Having tanked up, Amy and I headed down the backside of Bonnell for the out-and-back journey to the Dry Creek Saloon. For me, it's more uncomfortable to go down the steep hills than up them, but maybe I'm in the minority on that. Still, we turned around in the darkness still hanging around us, and made the ascent of the backside without undue agony. As it turns out, Alex ran by us as we were heading out to the Saloon, with Ivi, but it was so dark I didn't realize that it was him until he told me at stretching. Sorry, Alex!
After another quick water/Accelerade stop, Amy and I headed down Bonnell, up 35th, and then down Exposition. Again, I was feeling pretty good, enjoying the day. Still, it was nice to come up on the last water/Accelerade stop at O. Henry. Several groups passed in various directions as we navigated that stretch, as Expo was its usual busy running self on a Saturday morning.
Even though I said I wasn't going for a "fast finish" to this run, Amy and I did end up picking up the pace ever so gently through the last 3.2 miles. It didn't feel like a crazy acceleration, but by the end I could tell that we had eased it into a quicker gear, especially once we got to the trail.
Another day of long running in the books, and it was a fun one! Amy and I had a chance to discuss several issues of lasting importance, but, alas, those discussions stay on the trail. The old "What happens in Vegas..." deal, you know. The viral song of the day that I sprung on the crew was REO Speedwagon's "Take It On The Run," and it was a pretty strong choice. You know that one..."I heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard that you've been messing a-round..." Poetry.
The stats were 14.95 miles of running at 9:06 actual running pace. With water stops included, we drifted to 9:47/mile. Not bad. Fast finish miles were 8:44, 8:31, 8:26, and 0.2 miles at 7:35. Altogether a good workout.
The full stretching ritual followed as we reestablished out corner outpost at Riverside and First Street, which was a fun way to polish off the day.
Just 5 weeks until White Rock, and I'm feeling better about it every day.
So, what's been going on? Well, I bailed on going to Chicago for the marathon, which turned out to be an accidentally good decision. Who knew they'd have historically bad weather this year? Not me. But, my long training runs had been pretty terrible in September, and having to walk in on most of the 20 milers wasn't building any confidence. So, I decided at the end of September to reset my marathon target as the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December. That way, I'd get 10 weeks or more extra to train, while searching for my running mojo.
Almost immediately, I started doing better on the long runs and other workouts. The cooler weather also helped, of course, but it was also a function of regaining confidence little by little as target workouts came and went. I've had 3 really great 20 milers since then, and I've even been able to throw down some fast finishes at the end of those long runs, which was not happening at all in the summer. That brings us to today's tour of Mountain Bonnell.
We had our next-to-last 20 miler last weekend, which went great. This week we went for an easy 7 miler on Monday (I ran with Frank, which was fun), and then we had 6 x 1200m on the track on Wednesday. My times on the 1200s weren't as spiffy as last year at this time, but they were still plenty strong for my marathon goals this year.
Today, we started off with everyone, including all the AT&T folks, for a journey up to Mt. Bonnell. I really like this run for some reason. I guess rolling hills suit my particular running strengths, whatever those may be. I ran with a pod of folks, but mostly hung out with Amy. This was a rare opportunity to run the whole route with her, since we were finally on the same workout on a Saturday. For the most part, I was running today for strength and for fun, as it was sandwiched in between the two more important 20+ milers. It still had some testy bits as the road turned upward, but it was still loads of fun. Weather was nice again, in the high 50s, and that made for an enjoyable day.
Once we navigated through Scenic and up to the top of Bonnell the first time, it was an opportunity to do a GU and enjoy some chilled sports beverages with the peeps. Having tanked up, Amy and I headed down the backside of Bonnell for the out-and-back journey to the Dry Creek Saloon. For me, it's more uncomfortable to go down the steep hills than up them, but maybe I'm in the minority on that. Still, we turned around in the darkness still hanging around us, and made the ascent of the backside without undue agony. As it turns out, Alex ran by us as we were heading out to the Saloon, with Ivi, but it was so dark I didn't realize that it was him until he told me at stretching. Sorry, Alex!
After another quick water/Accelerade stop, Amy and I headed down Bonnell, up 35th, and then down Exposition. Again, I was feeling pretty good, enjoying the day. Still, it was nice to come up on the last water/Accelerade stop at O. Henry. Several groups passed in various directions as we navigated that stretch, as Expo was its usual busy running self on a Saturday morning.
Even though I said I wasn't going for a "fast finish" to this run, Amy and I did end up picking up the pace ever so gently through the last 3.2 miles. It didn't feel like a crazy acceleration, but by the end I could tell that we had eased it into a quicker gear, especially once we got to the trail.
Another day of long running in the books, and it was a fun one! Amy and I had a chance to discuss several issues of lasting importance, but, alas, those discussions stay on the trail. The old "What happens in Vegas..." deal, you know. The viral song of the day that I sprung on the crew was REO Speedwagon's "Take It On The Run," and it was a pretty strong choice. You know that one..."I heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard that you've been messing a-round..." Poetry.
The stats were 14.95 miles of running at 9:06 actual running pace. With water stops included, we drifted to 9:47/mile. Not bad. Fast finish miles were 8:44, 8:31, 8:26, and 0.2 miles at 7:35. Altogether a good workout.
The full stretching ritual followed as we reestablished out corner outpost at Riverside and First Street, which was a fun way to polish off the day.
Just 5 weeks until White Rock, and I'm feeling better about it every day.
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