That Will Do It For Some Time Now

Well, I've finally hit the end of this running road for a little while. While playing basketball in a fund-raising tournament I pulled my calf muscles (one of them, several, don't know) and am now on crutches. And my team didn't win, but another teacher jumped in for me right away. So I'm out now, nothing to write about until I can stand on my leg again and start P90X, and maybe do some short miles. I'll have to start over, that's for sure. Bummer. But I'll keep reading blogs and commenting on great training and races. Have fun! Happy Thanksgiving!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for BUsted Run

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BUsted Run

Today I had planned to run 6 miles, as I've been doing once a week for a short while. I went out at 10:30 under sunny skies, which would soon turn grey, and 49º, with a projected high a 50. I settled on running pants, a compression warm weather top with a summer running shirt for visibility (yellow). This proved to be too much later on, when I got really warm, but that proved to of little importance after that. At about 3/4 of a mile I felt a lot of tightness in my shins & calves, which happens sometimes when I run, so I wasn't bothered. At 1-1/2 miles it was still there, but I was warm, so didn't focus on it, but after 2 miles I had to take a stretch break. It never got better after that. I took a couple walk breaks and ended up walking the last 1-1/4 miles to home. That's when I got cool, and had to fight it off.

So the end result is a sore achilles tendon on my right side, which will have to rest a while before I can trust it again. I hope it doesn't effect my P90X workouts, which should begin next week! I'll play around with them until I begin in earnest. That's going to be great! I need to have a program to keep me on track, or else I get bored. I'm bored of running right now, because I have no focus, no goal, and it's not fun to just get out there and go right now. Need the mojo.

Flying to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, so maybe I can run in a new place and enjoy that. Happy Thanksgiving!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Long Run

Is that awesome, or what?
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Long Run

Big milestone: 2nd run of the week! So it didn't hurt that Veterans Day is a holiday, so I had the time and I used it well. Maybe I can do that more in future weeks. Maybe not this week.

Nice day today, 53º, light mist in the air, at least at first. Didn't get 1/4-mile before I encountered the dreaded flooded road. We had more than 24 hours of rain here, so the local river (really a creek) had flooded across the road I needed. I probably knew this, because I drove through it last night on the way to get groceries. No matter, I walked through the shallowest part—maybe 2 inches deep—and got my feet wet with really cold water. On I went with wet feet and Phedippidations in my ears. Did the same route I ran a week ago, doing 6 miles. I saw 2 horses, a donkey (I keep looking for his ogre, but no luck), and a bunch of baby cows at my turn-around. Animals make my run better, more enjoyable. It was good today. I managed to not think about the run much of the time. Actually, the mild weather goes a long way in making for a good run at this time of year, when it could easily be much colder & even snowing.

I pulled off 6.11 miles in 1:00:27, so basically a 10 minute pace, literally a 9:53 pace. HR was 163, max 173, so I wasn't killing it, but just enjoying it. With all the P90X I've been doing lately I find it awesome to get out and run. Working out for strength is great, of course, so I'm buying the videos, but I need to keep running. Yes, I bought the vids, and will be able to start the system some time next week, and so looking forward to it! It's a kick-ass workout and brings results fast. Nice. Gotta run, too. Just keep running, just keep running...

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Easy Run

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Easy Run

Easy run today. It's Veterans Day, so happy Veterans Day to all have served, are serving, and especially those in harm's way! I've been serving for 22 years now, and get some pretty great duties, but I so respect those who signed up for combat specialties and jump right in with both feet. God bless you all!

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

So there's no school today, so I got my wife to the train, then came home and had some breakfast and did a P90X video (back and biceps!), then had a sandwich for recovery, a nap and hit the streets for my run. I've been running so seldom lately that I wanted to get in a mid-week run, so that was great! Nice day for mid-November: 50º with a slight wind. I had shorts and a long-sleeve Under Armour heat gear shirt, which was perfect for this. No, it wasn't hot, but it serves as a nice layer and helps keep me comfortable. 4.34 miles in 41:34, and a good HR. The trees are mostly leaf-less now, and hardly anyone was out. No traffic, for sure, and I LOVED that! Huh, I don't much to say about my run. Oh, I listened to the Phedip gadgets & gizmos episode, but was uninspired by anything new mentioned on there. I don't share the love of barefoot or minimalist shoes, and already have a Garmin & iPod. C'est la vie.

Should manage some miles this weekend. I have a HS football game (that is band, and we NEVER lose!) on Friday, a practice on Saturday in which we'll march 6 miles: that's more than most people run! But then the weekend is mine. I'll also get some pics from the Patriots game up, but they are on my wife's laptop for now. Happy running!

Standing behind the Dolphins bench after the Anthem.

Empty Gillette

Yeah, I stood on the 50 yard line!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Only Run Of The Week

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Only Run Of The Week

What a nice day for a run! 30º at the start, 38º at finish, no wind to speak of, and sunny. For the first time this season I had to wear long pants, long sleeves and a winter hat, but I warmed into it quickly, and was comfortable throughout. It was a great run, too, with no discomfort of any kind, and my mind was working on different things the whole time, never dwelling on the run. In fact I had enough left at the end to pick it up make sure I came in under an hour! Total = 6.12 in 58:48, for a 9:36 average. It was great. But that's it for the week. I did some P90 during the week, had HS band practice twice this week, and just didn't get in a run. Can't run tomorrow because I have to get to Gillette Stadium for the Patriots game to sing the National Anthem! Love that gig (but it keeps me busy!).

So I turned 43 this week. Got a whole mess of greetings on facebook, a cupcake from a student, a 150-piece HS band sang happy birthday to me, as did a 50-piece choir. Tara & I went to the Boston Symphony last weekend (Beethoven 6 & 7, awesome!) and went out to dinner in Boston, plus she got me a cake on my b-day. Very nice. And tonight I lead my Army Caribbean band in a military ball, meaning we have to put butts on the dance floor! Staying overnight in Worcester to help me get to Foxboro faster tomorrow.

Only Run Of The Week

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The day after Halloween. Noshing on leftover candy (we'll be "trick-or-treating" in this house for weeks!), enjoying a relaxing day. It's Pack v Viqueens this afternoon, so I hope to see Brent Farv (vaguely remember him, I think...) on his ASS all day long! 'Nuff said. Anyway, I went for a run after a nice morning reading the paper by the fire. Since I only go once a week these days (lots of P90X takes time) I wanted to do something longer than the usual 4 or 5, so I headed out for a 6. My wife went at the same time, so we were together at first, but after 1/2-mile I was itching to get past the 11 minute pace, so I went on ahead. We would have split after about a mile anyway. So wearing the Garmin, but no ipod, I kept a moderate pace and just kept rolling along. First mile was 10:03, but then I stayed between 9:30 and 9:59, finishing hard in the last 1/4-mile. I felt good the whole time, and was loving the fall colors (mostly on the ground), and the smell of fallen leaves. Traffic was pretty inactive, and hardly anyone was out on foot, so I was mostly alone. There were some people walking dogs (or the other way around) and I saw 2 sheep (that's new!) and one horse. Mostly it was me and my thoughts, which didn't stay on any one topic for long.

The book I'm reading (listening to), American Psycho, gets pretty graphic during the murders, and it's hard to take in almost any scenario, so I don't like it while running. But what I like is that I got it from iTunes, even though it's still credited to Audible. Now, I belonged to Audible via Phedippidations, and didn't leave after the free book, so I got stuck with another 2 books, which was fine. But I can get the same product from the same retailer, but via iTunes with no subscription. That's a no-brainer for me! Enjoy your running!

***Next week is National Anthem @ Gillette Stadium!***

Woodvale March

See what we looked like in the monsoon @ 2006 Tournament of Roses? Hoping for REAL California weather this time!


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Woodvale March

Woodvale is a neighborhood next to our high school, so we take the marching band on a (relatively) 2-mile loop through there as practice for parades. The parade this year is the Tournament of Roses on January 1st (HGTV has commercial-free coverage!), so we'll be doing 6 miles before too long in preparation for that! Today was great for temperature (60º at start, 70º at end), and overcast, so perfect for marching. The wind was strong too, so our giant American flag was trying to fly away. The poor kids holding it were doing all they could to hang on, so some of the staff went back to help. I must have done at least 1/2-hour hanging on to that thing before we finally folded it up and carried it back. It was a good training session, anyway, and I logged a bunch of walking miles! I'll be sure to carry the Garmin in California so all can see exactly what the route looks like!

Oh, I did 52 minutes of P90X and 16 minutes of Ab Ripper X, too today! Nasty!

Easy Run

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EAsy Run

What a fantastic day! Didn't run until around 11 AM—couldn't resist sitting by the fire, reading the Sunday paper and enjoying some time with my wife—so it had warmed up to a very nice 56º by the time I left the house in shorts and shirt. The leaves are just popping here; especially the maples, which have started losing leaves. The only blemish on the scenery is from the birches, which seem to drop their leaves all at once as soon as it gets cold, so there are some bare spots. But the rest is a mix of red (check out the burning bushes!), yellow, orange, and that crazy mix the oak leaves get between green and brown. It's so beautiful, and the fallen leaves have a smell that can't be denied. I just love it!

Did 5.39 today in 52-ish minutes. I didn't really care about speed, though, just wanted to get outside. No headphones, because that would disrupt the beauty of the day, and frankly I'm getting a little tired of a certain pioneering running program. I listen at work, but get no motivation lately while on the road. Thanks for the many great inspirational shows when I first started a running program, but I'm just tired of the format now. I'll stay subscribed, though. I like to keep connections and look for motivation where I can, anyway. But my run: I did call into The Extra Mile just to say "hey" and describe how awesome it is here now. Also gave the briefest of race reports from the Zen Run 10K. Speaking of which, I gave a shout-out to people who check out this little page. Ahem, cough, cough. Don't you listen to the WWFOR episode anymore? :(

So I joined this health community after receiving numerous invitations, and this little blog will now be on wellsphere.com. Don't know what I'll get from it, but it costs nothing, and they're about health, so that's good. Check it out if you like. Happy running!

Oh, that was bad

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Man, when I didn't feel like running in 33º, and then 43º, and not really when it hit 50º I should have known enough to stay home. When I finally went out @ 2 I felt lethargic, my shins tightened up, my HR was high, and I had to stop several times. My body said stop and my brain said go. Didn't work. I completed it, but it was an unsatisfying run. Oh, well, it was more than I'd done lately by quite a lot, so I just over-did it. Time to back off and build up slowly.

Zen Run 10K

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Just ran my 10K for the World Wide Festival Of Races! Let me start with the awesome: 1st in my age group; 1st in males; 1st in all runners! A PR for this distance!

Next up is the obvious: only runner in my age group; only male runner; only runner; 1st ever race at this distance. I ran my own race which makes it tough to dig deep for the finish. It's easy to think of it as just another training run, so I set my Garmin to keep me within a certain range, and it had to yell at me a few times to speed up. So I did.

Laps look as follows: M1 8:13, M2 8:25, M3 8:28, M4 8:39, M5 8:55 (pretty hilly here), M6 8:32, final .2 7:46 for a total 52:47. AHR 181, MHR 198, so I gave it everything I had, at least at the end. And I hadn't been training for speed since early September. I'll take it!

BTW, nice day here, and I got some pics of before, during and after. Yes, I actually stopped to take a pic in the middle! I still have to post those, so that'll be up soon. Hurray WWFOR!

WW10K Warm-Up

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I've been a lazy boy for a while now, and haven't been out during the week at all. In fact, I've been a weekend warrior, while spending long hours at school catching up on grading and planning. That's all good stuff, but I needed to get back out on the road, so I hit a 5-er today as a tune up for the World Wide Festival Of Races tomorrow. I'm doing Steve's Run Because He Wants To, right here at home. To the best of my knowledge no one else is registered, which is good, because I'm not supplying any support or prizes. My pre-race plan is to read the paper by the fire with my wife, enjoy a cup of coffee and then go hit it. I also plan to PR my first ever 10K race! More details tomorrow. Good luck in whichever race you are doing!

Long Run

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So this is my 1st long run since July! It was a very nice 51º with a cloud cover, but no wind. Shorts and shirt weather! Didn't have a buddy to run with, so I took Phedippidations with me and listened to some old episodes (#27 & 28), which was nice. Still would have done alright with no sound, since autumn is doing its best take hold here, and there wasn't much road traffic to drown out nature.

I took a nice, easy pace, slightly under 10 min/mile, and just enjoyed the run. I mean I haven't enjoyed a run like that since I don't know when! There's been so much effort into hard, fast work that I hadn't done an easy effort for fun, so this was great. I need more of that. Then I need to balance the easy runs with some speed work, but balance is the key. I noticed the local track was open today (the old private school track is open, the public school track is locked...) so that's an option.

On another note, with the World Wide Festival Of Races fast approaching I need a race. So I think I'll create the "Steve's WWFOR 10K" right here near home. I've never done 10K specifically before, so I'll need little work to map out a route that stops here again, but it'll work. Also have to register. I'll go do that now.

Easy Run

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It's been 8 days since my previous run. Just wanted to get out and do something! So I hit about a 9-minute pace and did it. Just ran. Nice. Consistency is needed.

1st Long Run since Whenever

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It's been a long time since I've done any long running, not that this was such a long one. Looking back at my training calendar I did some 5ers at the end of August, and an 8-and-then -some in early July, but that's it.

So today was a 5-miler with my Sunday running buddy. He's been out with a back injury, so he's just getting back into it, too. We took it pretty easy, maintaining around 9:00 per mile. It was good, and we talked the whole way. He thought we don't normally talk that much, but we couldn't shut up today.

The weather was great for running, having warmed up to about 53º from a nasty 39º overnight. I wore shorts and a hot-gear long sleeve shirt with a singlet, just to color up the all black look. Started out cool, but I warmed into it by mile 1.

It was a pretty comfortable run. Easy at first, and some of the later hills took it out of us a little, but mostly just a good run. The leaves are changing on some of the trees already, which may be a little late, but I'm not sure on that. But it's getting pretty already. Glad to be out there!

Bike Ride With A Friend

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Met with a friend today for an easy ride. Training for running is over for a while, so a cross-train was a nice change.

We went out nice and easy, just talking, since we hadn't ridden together for a month. Every now and then we caught ourselves going harder for no reason, so we'd slow down a little. Gradually, though, we picked up the pace, and for a while we were doing 20 MPH pretty steadily! We ended up at about a 16MPH pace, which is pretty good.

It as a nice ride, and we changed our usual routes, so it was pretty, too, and it's good to see things from another view. Nice ride!

APFT: At Last!

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We finally had the big PT test for my Army unit! I was all peaked out in August, when we went to Alaska (heard the same thing from many people), and when we got back I did not maintain that high level of work. I ran a few times, including a session of 4 x 800s and a day of 2 x 1 miles within a 5 mile run. I also did a final easy run on Thursday. Hadn't done any real situps since before Alaska, although I worked my abs a few times. And I'd been maintaining my pushup work all along, but less lately.

So here's what happened: This morning was rainy/drizzly and a comfortable 60º in Fall River, MA. Had a nice breakfast, a couple cups of coffee on the drive in (2 hours driving), and a handful of almonds for some protein. By pushup start time (approx. 9 AM) I was ready, but feeling a little tired from 2 nights of less sleep than normal. I nailed the pushups! Needed 67 for a max (100 points), and hit 74! It wasn't easy, but who cares? On the situps (approximately 15 minutes later, after we all had done PU) I needed 72 for a max and hit 73! Nailed it! Did a warm-up lap, and then another, slower one with a friend. I get to the other stuff, but I needed 14:06 for a max, and got a 14:45. Say what? Yeah, I added 29 seconds to last year's run.

Excuse time! Sleep as mentioned, because I has HS band practice on Thursday, so I got home later, and a HS football game last night, and the band was there. The band, btw, is 1-0! That's a little band humor. Really little. I know. Oh, the football team won, too. But I got home pretty late, and woke up early for Guard. I didn't have much to give for the run. I did manage a kick over the final 300, so I probably just couldn't bring myself to hurt more than it already did. Excuses over. I set a goal of 300 points on the APFT, and came up with 295. Pretty good, anyway, no? Oh, I hit 4th place on the test (3 younger guys in front of me), and had one of the highest scores on the test. I'll take it!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 2 x 1M as part of a loop

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In case it's not clear, the title to these Garmin posts is a link to the GC site. My favorite part is the "terrain" button, because it actually shows a terrain map (hello, really?) which is useful to see what it's like where I live!

Today was my final run of the "summer." I'm back to school tomorrow, but it's been a fantastic summer! I really hit the speedwork hard this year, getting to know my local track! Of course I won't know until Saturday if it actually helped me drop any time for the 2M race. But it was good to work that hard. Anyway, I set out today on a 5M loop. Did my 1M warmup, then Garmin counted down to my next lap, which was a 1M all-out effort, followed by 3-min walk, then repeat. It was rough! Running on a track is nice and flat, but out on the road you get what comes your way. That's what follows:

7:04, elevation +303, -281, which was mostly a little rolling terrain. 7:16, elevation +218, -181, but there was less rolling and one 1/4M climb that really took it out of me! But I got it back and carried on. The test will be on a track, so these numbers tell a pretty good tale. Especially when I factor in that I hiked for 2-1/2 hours yesterday on some pretty heavy terrain, involving climbing some steep ( and fun) rocks! Good workout, for sure!

Bike Ride With My Wife

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Tara wanted to ride today, instead of running, so we broke out the road bikes and got going. Easy pace, but a nice ride. She likes to see what's new in the area (vegetation and houses) and notice everything going on. I like to go! We compromise on these efforts, though. Easy in the early part, pick it up as the road encourages me, meet in the middle, and do it again. Well, it's never as easy as at the start. We came across another couple dogging it up a hill, so I blew past them and they picked up the chase! I didn't really want a chase, so I slowed down at a stop sign and let them go. We passed them later on. Had to make a choice 2 miles from home when the road turned to gravel. We chose the gravel for 1 mile, knowing it would end again, but it was a rough ride. Anyway, good workout. Fat burner, I hope!

4 x 800s

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I Think I like sending workouts directly from Garmin Connect to here. My first intervals since Alaska, like 3 weeks ago, and it HURT! Went out super fast, but I couldn't maintain that, of course. After that it was much could I hang on to any kind of speed. Not bad, but I need to work more before my Army test next weekend.

The Return Post

I'm fully back from National Guard training (almost 2 weeks now) and becoming recovered, gradually. It went down like this: we were supposed to fly back on Sunday, August 16th, but the Air Force wouldn't let the plane fly. We were pretty unhappy, but adjusted once we were back in the Fairbanks hotel. I got to have an extra day @ Denali National Park (no equipment—on the plane—no training), which was fantastic! See above. Oh, I did run a couple times in AK, and believe I wrote about those already.

When we got back I went straight to high school marching band practice on 3 hours sleep. The next day (camp all week) my in-laws left, and my sister and niece showed up. I planned that pretty poorly, but we had a great visit! My parents came the next night, so I didn't get to recover then. Tara & I drove them all over: Mass., Maine, NH, beaches, tropical storms, Boston, food, etc. By Tuesday my family had all gone, and Tara & I let our guards down. She still worked out the week (yay for teaching!), but we had this weekend to fully recover. I'm actually sad to see the weekend go, even though I don't have much to do this week.

Got in some runs in the last week too. 4.31 Last Monday, 5.25 on Wednesday for a longest in how long? Today I aimed for 6 and got 5.87 in 51:23. Seems I should have zigged when I zagged, but it's still pretty good. 8:45 average pace is pretty good, and that's what I've been doing for all my easy runs lately. I kicked it up a notch! HR is getting up there, but I'll watch it come down later.

Glad to be back, and back to normal! Oh, my whole running plan was for the APFT in Alaska. Here's what went down with that: There was a 2-million acre forest fire around Fairbanks, so the whole place was smoke filled. Really, it was hard to breathe. When that cleared up (just the smoke) we never got a break in which to place a 3-hour physical test for the whole unit, what with training and performances scheduled. Plus the Air Force's schedule for loading the plane. We'll do the whole test in 2 weeks on our home turf. Now I have to find a way to get to a track when it's not out of service for a HS football team! Gotta add a little speed to what I already had going on!

Hey, I Can Blog Straight From Garmin Connect!

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What Running?

2 Weeks in Fairbanks, and I ran twice. Once was a fast run with my room mate, who is faster than I am. The other was 800s with a few people. I rode bikes with a couple other people yesterday, and saw more of Ft. Wainwright than everyone else, which was cool.

Today we left the hotel, packed the plane and sat through two engine checks, before they announced that we weren't going anywhere. C-R-A-P! Two more days in rainy Fairbanks, with no transportation, and little money. It's time to go home. End of complaint-fest.

Running In Alaska

Well, now for something completely different. I'll start by telling you that I have done a couple runs while on Annual Training in Fairbanks, including 4 x 800s on Monday, which was a lot of fun with 3 other people. The APFT is on Friday, but that's not why I'm writing.

Just got back from my first performance with my MPT (Musical Performance Team, which means a small band) and we kicked ASS! The group is a Caribbean band, with guitar, bass, drums, sax and keyboard (me, and I play vibraphone, too), and two of us sing. We played in the hotel bar, and came out with a latin-style jazz piece, then hit up some reggae with HEAVY solos from sax and vibes, and people flipped out. We had them dancing and singing and having a great time. We played Red Red Wine, Volcano, Love Song, Redemption Song, I'm Yours, Breakdown, Moondance, and so many other songs. It was wild, crazy and amazing. If you don't already get the power of music, I wish you great speed in finding it. Running is good, but I was reminded tonight of how important music is to me, and how complete I am when performing in a great band! Man, it was so much fun! I'll run more, but music completes me.

Race Report & Final Post Before Army Training

I haven't even gone running for today, yet, but want to get out this last post before Annual Training in Alaska. I'll have the computer with, but don't know details about internet connection, so this could be it until 2 weeks from now.

So last Tuesday was the Yankee Homecoming 5K & 10M races in Newburyport. I had done the 5K once before—three years ago, I think—and the 10M last year. Raced the 5K this year, because I have my Army 2M race the week after, and I couldn't accomplish the proper recovery and training after a 10M race, while still giving a best effort a week later. I do enjoy the longer race, though. Some friends of mine clocked in average paces of 7:04 and 7:28 in the 10M, which are both faster than my 5K pace! I love it!

It was a reasonably warm day, especially for New England this summer, which has been cool and wet. But it was 85º for most of the day, and quite humid. Not oppressive, by any means, but warm. We were there about 30 minutes before the start, and needed time to wait in line for the restrooms, and have a good stretch. It was also Tara's first race—EVER! She was so nervous, but I kept reminding her that any result is a PR that can be tackled again next time. She did great, knocking out a 33:40! She learned that feeling good at the start doesn't mean feeling good at the end, and she needs to maintain a planned pace and save some for the end. Tara had a great time, and totally wants to race more!

I got stuck, as always, in the opening traffic, breaking free after about 1/2-mile, and finished the first mile in 7:31, which is about 15 seconds slower than I wanted for a total pace, but good enough, considering the traffic jam that I always see at these events. I felt really good, and my HR was at 164, or around 75-ish%. The second mile was better @ 7:22 and mostly flat, with a nice downhill to downtown (how's that for a little turn of the phrase?). HR still only 177 out of 197 max. In the third mile I was feeling the heat, grabbed a sloppy drink of water (didn't expect to in a short race), and struggled up the hill towards the finish. 7:43 with 183 HR. I was feeling it pretty good now, but knew I had more in the tank for the finish, so I poured it on for whatever remained of the end, averaging 6:20, and kicking to the finish. Official time 23:36, for a 7:36 average pace. It's no PR, but my PR time came in an unofficial weekly race with no chip time, entrance fee or race numbers, so this is my best official 5K time!

Oddly enough, Buckeye lists this race as a PR, because it somehow called it 3.11 miles, while my others were simply 3.10. Strange, but unimportant, I guess. Dave asked me about it, so I thought it deserved an explanation.

The rest of the week included biking 10.52M on Monday and 20.46 on Saturday, this time with a friend. I was in NYC with my wife and her parents Wednesday thru Friday, walking ALL DAY. We took the subway for long trips, like getting to the ferry to statue of liberty, or uptown to the top of central park. We stood for long periods, waiting out torrential rain in Times Square, before donning cheap ponchos and toughing it out. Saw so much of Manhattan, including walking the whole Brooklyn bridge and central park. Total miles are hard to figure, with separate walking excursions leading to multiple maps. Yeah, I tried to map it out on Buckeye, but only got 2 routes out of it. Can't spend all my time on that. I mapped one 5.5M and one 4.5M route, but we did multiple miles on top of those, so my legs (and feet!) were tired every day. It was a great trip!

I'm doing a track workout of some kind today, as a final prep for my Army run. I hope to have a 14:00 2M, but can't predict based on recent events and my huge NYC walking excursion, which doesn't do anything for speed. C'est la vie! I'll report back when I can.

Oh, That Kicked @&&!

Today I fought off laziness and general tiredness from the week to test my 2 mile run for the Army. I had been laying down, taking a little nap when my friend Tim called to tell me about his 13:30 run, which is his goal for the same race. I was excited for him, and then he wanted me to go do the same. I looked out and saw rain, and said 'I don't think I'm excited to do another rainy run. I'll do it tomorrow, anyway.' Then my competitive spirit got ahold of me, and I had to go.

Well, I no sooner started my warmup mile when it started raining hard. C'est la vie! I did about a 7:45 warmup, then took a break to set the Garmin to count down a 2 mile run, and had previously set it up for 1/4M laps. The laps didn't take. Bummer. So off I went, cranking out at 6:30 pace, which I fought off for the whole first lap! I can't maintain that, but it sure felt good for the first lap. I settled down pretty well, then fought off getting too slow and various tension issues to finally come in at 14:04! That's 2 seconds better than my max time in the Army! Goal achieved! It wasn't easy, of course, and that was a lot of pain to fight through, but fight I did.

The hard work seems to be paying off! Next up is a 5K on Tuesday, then I'll likely do another day of track work to lock it in before my Army training in Alaska. Maybe there's something to all this hard work for the payoff?