Better Late

'Cause it's cooler!  It was still 83 degrees F, but at least I didn't have to contend with that big burning ball of gas in the sky.  I set out at 8:10 PM and tried to maintain a 9:20ish pace.  As you can see, the wheels fell off the last two miles as the heat build up in my body, and I began to tire.

Still, I'm pretty happy with the run; I just wish those last two miles would have been my first two so that I finished with a shout instead of a whimper.  You know, if I look at it as all of my miles were within 12 seconds of each other, then it looks great!  It's all about how you parse the data...

This Saturday, bet there or be...somewhere else...the Carefree Running of the Crocodiles 5K!  They have promised live crocodiles (I'm sure they will be using the cheaper alligators) will chase us for the entire race.  You will PR or get eaten!

2 X 3 miles

I was planning on running The Meltdown this year, but my lovely wife decided that I had another race that I had to be at.  Yes, my beautiful wife bought us tickets to the night race at Bristol!  She loves me, she really does!

uh, anyways, where was I?  Oh, so, I won't be running the three 5K's in one day, so I decided to do 2 X 3 miles in the same format. I ran the first one at 10:16 and the second one at 11:14 (close enough).

I was pleasantly surprised by my time on the second one.  I had my pace alarms set for a 9:15 pace, but decided to run at a slightly uncomfortable, but maintainable pace.  And, yes, knowing that I didn't have to run another three, I did push it harder on the sixth mile than I did on the third mile...

Next Saturday is my first 5K race in quite a while (let me look that up...dang, it's been two years!), so with my recent speed gains, I'm really hoping for a new PR.  I beat my 5 mile time from two years ago by 4 minutes, so, perhaps shaving 30 seconds to a minute off my 5K time wouldn't be too ambitious...hopefully.

Get Out! and run

I took an extra day off after the race cause...it was too hot yesterday to run...and I was tired.

But today, it was cooler (~80 F), so I donned my olde running clothes and set out on a pace alarm free run.  I was open to a 3 or 4 miler, but after 2, I knew it would be 3.  For not being hot, it sure was warm.

Out Run the Sun results:
13/22 [45-49] age group
 91/148 men
138/291 overall (top half!)
2/9 Greenwood residents! Podium finish!

See, it's all about how you sort the results...

Outrun The Sun 5 Mile Race

My official time was 45:56; I didn't realize that the race was timed only on gun time.  By the time I figured out that I wasn't going to cross a timing mat to start, 14 seconds had passed and I started my watch.

I...am...very...happy with this race!  I was hoping to beat 47:00 due to running that 47:05 the other day.  My secret hope was to beat 46:00.  My unrealistic dream was to beat 45:00 and win the race.  That last one didn't happen, BTW.

Tuxedo Brothers don't have the official results on the web yet, but I think I placed around 137th overall and around 13th in my age group.  Not sure on the totals for either of those categories.  I'll post them later.  If you are extremely interested, go to Tuxbro.com\results.html and scroll down until you see Rusty Mills.  I'm sure they will not mind you refreshing the page a thousand times a minute until they finally post the results.  Good luck with that.

More to come!

No-Peek 5 Miles

I ran this run without looking at my watch (except at 4.98 miles in order to stop at 5) and without pace alarms.  I've changed my training this week because I signed up for a 5 mile race this Saturday evening!

So, I'll do an easy 3 on Wed, then rest until the race.  I did this same race two years ago, and it remains the sole 5 miler on my resume.  I should be able to PR as my last time was just under 50 minutes (49:53), and I do believe that I bettered that...why on this very run!

5-6-4

Started out the door with 5 miles in mind.

After stretching and starting, determined to do 6.

Ended up doing 4.

Compromise!

I didn't flame out or anything, but I was certainly feeling yesterday's run and also the lack of running that I've had over the last month.  This was really my first full week of running since April!  So, I'm going to cut myself some slack.

I'm looking at a 5K this coming Saturday; we'll see if it happens.

Playing Quarters

6X1/4th was the order of yesterday or today.  (Pro tip: I did it today)  I tracked these a little different: I set my distance alarm to .25 miles so that it alarmed every quarter mile.  Then, I thought I would just listen for the alarm to end my quarters.  It didn't work out that way.

I ended up doing like I always do - namely, watching my distance like a hawk to hit the lap button at exactly the quarter mile mark.  So, while it was a nice idea in theory, in practice, not so much.

I also reverted to my preferred recovery quarter of walking for .12 miles then jogging for the next .12 miles and getting back up to speed the last .01 mile.

Tomorrow is going to be a longish run - maybe 7 or 8 miles at a moderate pace.