Halloween run

8.1 miles in 1:00:43

I considered going for 12 miles this afternoon but had to get home in time for trick-or-treating. Felt good and a little bit fast, even listening to This American Life.

Dipping into the well

Met with the Thursday track group at Piedmont High this morning. Workout was an "inverse ladder", but seemed more like climbing into a well: 1600-800-400-800-1600, increasing effort at the shorter distances with 400 m recoveries. My plan was to go 6:30-3:00-1:25-3:00-6:30, but these went down in 6:25-3:07-1:10(!!!)-3:04-6:25, and done before sunrise. Felt great, but I can still feel that 400 in my lungs. 6.5 total including warmup and cooldown.

Sunday Double

am - 5 blocks with Silas (no wheels), untimed
pm - 5.5 miles Milvia-Gilman loop in 43:57

I had a mysterious bruise on my left knee that literally (meaning figuratively) hobbled me for a couple of days and precluded running for a few more. The good news is that the enforced sedentary lifestyle removed any question about my right foot/ankle situation, and I'd forgotten about it completely until I noticed that I didn't feel it on tonight's run. Tonight was nondescript; the morning run included great conversation and a two stretch breaks.

Morning loop

4.2 miles in 32:17 this morning. I slept in after working late last night (ah, the bachelor life... Christine and Si will be back from their travels on Wednesday) and am sitting with coffee on my desk and ice on my right ankle as I write this. The ankle/foot isn't bad, but, as someone said the other day, I sure could make it bad.

Cowtown lbrr

Well, it was 2 weeks ago now that I woke up at 4:45 to ride up to Sacramento with my friend Seychelle to run the Cowtown Half Marathon. It was still dark and chilly when we arrived at William Land Park at 6:30, and we found parking on the residential streets and jogged to the start. Within about 10 minutes, I was numbered, shirted, and Port-a-pottied and trying to figure out what to do with the next 50 minutes until start time. We walked around the starting area for a while, then jogged about a mile to warm up.

About 3500 of us lined up at the start, mostly half marathon runners with a few hundred marathoners - double loopers - mixed in. I did a few strides in front of the starting line and then found a spot between the 6 and 7 minute pace signs. I had the idea that I would try to start with a 6:50 pace and try to pick it up in the last few miles if I could, but I was really just curious to see how things would turn out. September's training had been a wash instead of my peak mileage month, and although I was certainly well-rested, I had probably lost some of the benefits of my summer training.

At the gun, we started through the park and into the residential neighborhoods around it. I settled in with a few other guys and chatted a bit up to the first mile marker (7:02) and then picked up my pace a little. Mile 2, still residential, went a little faster (6:54) and mile 3 in 6:49. A pit stop at one of the many port-a-potties on the course meant that I fell behind the 3:10 marathon pace group, and I surged a bit to work my way out of the crowd - mile 4 went down in 7:15.

The rest of the story is pretty much told by my remaining splits:
6:57-6:49-13:51 (2 miles)-6:56-6:54-7:06-7:04-7:42 (1.1 miles)

I finished in 1:31:24, an historically middling result for me, and averaged 6:59 pace. My race was hardly metronomic, but still pretty consistent overall. There was no crash at the end, but at the same time even at mile 1 it was as if my body knew better than my mind exactly how far we were going, and exactly how fast we could get there. I really did feel like I was kicking in the last mile, and did pass a couple of guys, but it still came in at 7:00 pace.

I missed Seychelle's finish as I was getting a massage, but found her right away and hit the grass to stretch. Afterwards, we stopped at Pancake Circus for breakfast - think Waffle House, but with crazy circus paintings on the walls and much better food. I had buckwheat pancakes with country potatoes, and Seychelle had a plate of whipped cream with maybe a waffle or something under it.

Back to Berkeley

Right after the last post I headed out for today's run - 7.2 miles in 54 flat. It's a warm and humid day today, so I decided that running near the bay would feel good. It felt good enough, and I disproved my superstition that listening to This American Life makes me slow.

Last Georgia run

3.4 miles in 26:12 yesterday morning. I brought Bella with me for the whole run this time; we kept going until she gave me some slack in the leash. The disappearing sidewalks got my goat a little bit, and we had to run through some front yards to avoid the traffic. Lovely running weather, though.

Running in the rain

I haven't blogged my last few runs, including the Cow Town. I'll probably get to that later, but I'm out of town now and need to get this down somewhere.

Ran 8.5 miles today in 1:03:35. It was misty and dark this morning, so it was a little hard to see where was going; I tried to stick to subdivision streets or some of the few main roads with continuous sidewalks to avoid the morning rush hour traffic. Got back to Mom's house 45 minutes in, and let her English Setter take me for a run for the last 2+ miles.

Ready to Run

Well, ready or not. In this last week of my extended, unplanned taper, I overlsept my alarm three times and so have 6 miles under my belt for the week. Well rested indeed!

I'm planning to carpool to Sacramento on Sunday, leaving around 5 am to get there for the 6:30 packet pickup, porta-potty line, and warmup. Race time is 7:30. I ran a 19:52 5K back in February and I definitely feel in better shape now than then, so I think I'll start at 6:45 pace and see what happens from there.