Rollercoaster! (Say What?) Oooh Oooh Oooh! [Entered 3/27/06]

Saturday was a new and interesting long run with the Gazelles. Gilbert wanted us to run the first, hilly part of the Capitol 10,000 course and then do Scenic and then Mountain Bonnell for those of us training for half marathons and beyond. So, 6:00 am and we were off. It was pretty chilly, around 38 when we started, but for me that was fun running weather. Our pretty large crew was Rich, Jennifer, Rachel, Volel, Luis, Colleen, and somebody else(?). Maybe that was the whole gang. At any rate, over to the start of the Cap 10K course, and then up Congress, around the Capitol to the right (that's new this year), and back on course on 15th Street. I think the new course is slightly more hilly. Perhaps they've done this to add a tiny bit of distance early so that they can move the finish line back to avoid the traffic circle now on Riverside? We were a chatty bunch, of course. We went straight on Enfield and then down Exposition to hit the O. Henry water/Powerade stop there. That finished the Capitol 10K portion of the festivities. Since I had 'em, I took a GU there.

Splits miles 1-4.24: 9:30, 9:24, 9:22, 9:03, and .23 miles at 8:33. Average so far 9:17/mile. A fairly concise 2:10 water stop, and we were off.

Scenic was enjoyable for me, at least. It was quite pretty as we saw the early morning mist coming off the lake, and we realized yet again why those folks pay so much for their houses along the shore. Those people not doing longer races turned at Enfield to head back for 10 miles, leaving our sturdy crew of Jennifer, Rachel, Luis and me to continue on to Mt. Bonnell. I think we backed off slightly from previous runs up Scenic and Bonnell, but it was still well paced. When we got to Bonnell itself, I went ahead and pushed on up the hill, and that was pretty satisfying. Everyone else got up in good fashion, too. I chatted briefly with Alex and Frank at the Bonnell Powerade stop, took a second GU, and it was time to get moving again. So far, so good, and from here the course seems so much easier. I guess when you are standing on top of a mountain, it surely can't get any hillier when you start out going downhill like that, right?

Splits miles 5-8.7: 8:53, 9:09, 9:05, 8:43, and 0.41 miles up Bonnell at 8:57/mile pace. Average pace so far 9:07/mile. Another Powerade/GU stop in 3:16, which includes some time spent waiting for the group to reform.

Down Balcones Woods, Jennifer and Rachel discussed interior decorating and paint selection, which was amusing. Up the tough little hill on 35th, then down the Exposition and finally to O. Henry again for the last Powerade/GU stop. I took a last GU just because I had it with me. I was feeling great by now, and I was ready for the "fast finish" to the day.

Splits miles 9-12: 8:41, 8:44, 8:49, 0.3 miles at 8:41/mile pace. Overall, 9:01 running pace. Last water stop was 1:56.

On the fast finish, I heard footsteps for the first mile, and then after that, I crossed the Mopac bridge and ran alone to the finish. It was certainly a strong effort, but I didn't think I was going quite as quickly as I was. Despite some traffic issues on the trail (the beautiful weather brought out lots of extra people today), I was able to run how I wanted all the way to the tape.

Splits miles 13-15: 1.2 miles at 7:41, 7:30, 7:46. Overall pace dropped to 8:43/mile, a good run by any measure on that course. With the three water stops included, pace for the day was 9:12/mile. Final mileage was 15.27. It was really cool to drop to sub-half marathon pace for the last 3.2 miles, and served as a big confidence booster for me.

5x100m striders, then the full stretching session in the warm morning sun. Nice. I joined the Janiaks, Alex, and Connie for a big breakfast at Magnolia Cafe again this week, and that just finished off a great morning of running.

For the week, I was still at 38 miles since I skipped the Thursday recovery run. It was a good week, though.