:-)

Was toooooo cold for this big wimp, so I headed inside to the fitness center. 

I'm always amazed how my legs are tight the first day after the "longer" run on Saturdays.  Average pace was 7:20.  Felt like I was slowing down by a minute per mile the last two miles.  I guess I need to tell my head that even though my legs feel tight and heavy they are doing ok. 

Looking forward to the 10 k this weekend in sunny St George.

Woke up late.  Got out for something though.  Felt good to go go.  I ran up 1600 and tried to go down the canal road and .25 miles in the gate wouldn't open.  #$!$@.  So, turned around and went around the old WordPerfect buildings, then back home.  As I ran up 1600 I saw another runner up there a ways.  I wondered about the distance if I could real him in.  As I went down the hill on 800 E, I could tell I had narrowed the gap, so I thought I may be able to catch him.  Flat ground, he held his pace good.  Try as I might, I wasn't closing the gap very much.  LUCKILY he stopped at the next light.  So then I caught him. Phew.

Did deserve to run with him though.  I think he said his name is James, He wasn't even breathing hard, while I was!  Found out that he did a full Ironman last year, and is going to Vegas half Ironman in April.  He finished the full last year right around 11 hours.  WOW.

Anyway, short but sweet, and parts of it were good and fast for me.

AP 7:23

Fun race!  

Kelly and I met Smooth at the top and chatted with her and some of her friends from another board.   I did a short warm up jog and then stood around for the start.  Kelly Smooth and I were all on the third row or so, but when the gun went off it was like there were 1000 people ahead of us.  Smooth darted under people and I found myself leaping and turning to the side to avoid hitting people. 

First mile felt good.  Fast but good.  On my warm up I ran about half the first mile and I knew it had a fairly steep downhill, so I just tried to relax and let the speed take me where it felt natural.  Mile 2 and 3 were fast miles as well, but did hit some up and down parts on the little trail.  My watch was consistantly .02 miles less than the mile markers. 

Mile 4 was relaxed, but I could feel my upper legs getting very tired.  By mile 5 I felt like I wanted the race to end and I could tell I was falling apart.  Miles 1,2 and 3 were coming back to haunt me.  I walked for a drink at that drink station at mile 5 or so.  That gave me some needed energy.  I wondered if maybe I need to get a "gu" pack down me.  I didn't have any "gu" so it was a futile discussion in my head, but it did keep my mind off the discomfort in my quads.  Did I mention miles 1,2 and 3 were haunting me?

When I hit the 6 mark I knew it was almost over, I survied possible overtake from behind runners, "none, good, I don't know if I can sprint......" 

I see the clock turn 43 and my heart kinda dropped.  50 yards from the end I see my son and his girlfriend.   I muster up some extra speed hoping to keep the time under 43:20, and I do.  Now I'm regretting that stop at 5.  But, maybe if I hadn't I would still be somewhere between 5 and 6.

Here are my splits.

(5:48, 6:48, 6:41, 7:21, 7:46, 7:44, 1:06)  6:58 AP

Details/Map....

Kelly did fantastic for having serious knee pain.  She finished 58:08.  I thought she would walk, she powered through and had a respectable showing for little (!!!!!) training.  Her knee seems to be no worse off either which really makes me happy!