Well the weather was better... But not my time:)

Last year I had a lot of fun running the Grand Rapids Public Schools Turkey Trott. The weather was horrible. About 10 degrees, blowing snow, ice… It was a bad day but I had a good race. This year the weather was much better, in fact I might argue close to perfect but I ran 30 seconds slower. The lesson here may be to find a marathon to run someplace cold and snowy… OK, Maybe not.

The crowd seemed a little larger this year, but the course was identical to last year. I saw Derek at the start and also when he was at about mile 2, I was at 1.6. I love those out and back’s because you can see all the really fast guys and then once you turn around you can see all those you are beating. I know… So petty.

Pretty typical race. At the end some guy was sprinting up behind me. This has happened before and I generally find if I pick it up then the challenger will give up when they see I’m willing to race them. But this guy kept coming. He was determined to beat me but luckily I had enough to hold him off. But after we crossed the finish line we exchanged big grins and high fives. It’s fun when you can do a little racing at these things.

All in all it was faun, but I’m not feeling really great about my running right now. I need to get my head straight and may have to start running in the morning. I’m too willing to blow off runs when they come at the end of the day. We’ll see.

3.1 miles/25:56/8:22avg

First 5K Since Chicago

Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis dedicated to the memory of Mary Youngs

Well I had to run 3 miles today and though why not sign up for a 5K. In addition the run was in memory of Mary Youngs, a family friend and a great Hastings citizen. A good cause and a fun run… Why not.

My plan was to take it easy and run about 9’s. I haven’t really pushed myself since Chicago and really haven’t run fast for several weeks before Chicago. I didn’t really know what I would have.

I had on a long sleeved shirt so couldn’t really see my Garmin to know what pace I was running. I felt like I was going slow but having to work pretty hard. I was actually getting pissed at myself until I crossed the first mile, 7:40… Oops. I actually heard a couple of other runners express the sentiment. Too Fast! Somewhere over the next mile I caught up with Liz Lancaster. She had also started out too fast and was bemoaning the error in judgment. But it was fun to run with her for a bit.

I tried to slow down a bit but when I got to mile two I heard 15 and change. Still sub 8’s so I just said to hell with it I might as well go with it. I finished in 24 minutes. As I usually say I didn’t mean to, it just kind of happened. I think it was the excitement of the race and the cold weather. Maybe I should only do cold weather marathons?

Anyway I feel pretty good and am more motivated to include some speedwork in my training.

3.1 miles/24:00/7:43avg