Back to Long

Finally I’m back to a distance that I feel I can truly call a long run. 12 – Half Marathon distance feels like Med-Long, and today was 15. 15 feels like a long run to me. I headed out and I probably had some drag from the huge ass smile on my face. 😀

The weather was cool and breezy for July, which made a 4pm long run actually bearable. I ran the miles with a perceived effort of 7 (out of 10) and left the last three at marathon goal pace (MGP), the effort felt like an 8. I smiled, day dreamed, waved to neighbors, and just soaked up that good old feeling of a great run. I was surprised to find post run that I was drenched in sweat like a swamp monster. The humidty must have been bad.

15 Miles Long (‘Hood, 2:01:21, 8:05 Pace)

Total Miles: 56.4

I love mileage 55 mpw and higher. I dunno what it is, but I just felt complete this week. I got a great track workout, hills, a race, and long run. I feel spoiled. I couldn’t be happier with how this week came out!

2010 Dog Days – 5K – 19:39

So let me first say there was a discrepancy that the course cone for the turn around was slightly off. My Garmin showed 3.05, which could be a reflection of some of the cone issue, but that also includes any attempts to cut the tangents.

Sometimes with small races every now and then the course can be marked short or long by accident as a volunteer may start the course in the wrong spot or put a turn around marker in a wrong position. It’s bummer, but I guess it happens.

This race is held at 6pm, which in July makes it nice and melting. It was about 87 degrees and the course has some rolling small hills after the first mile. This was a hard training week for both Rob and I so it was going to be interesting to see what would happen.

2 Mile Warm Up (Lake Bloomington, 17;42, 8:51 Pace)

Not only did we both hold up we raced strong! I can’t wait to see what we could do with some rest and cooler temps!

3.1 Miles Race (Lake Bloomington, 19:39, 6:20 Pace)

My time got me 3rd female and 1st in my age group! 1st and 2nd female ages were 19 and 16, so just being in the vicinity of some youngster females is rockin in my book!

Rob finished with a 18:37! He got 1st in his age group!

Ritter and Drew also had great races! It was so nice to get to hang out with them! Ritter you looked like a rock star in your new spandex shorts, maybe I’ll be brave enough to wear something like that one day, but first I need to get more strengthening done. Gives me something to shoot for! 🙂

1.23 Mile Cool Down (Lake Bloomington, 12:08, 9:52)

Stats:

19:39

**Race director announced the slight cone differental and said everyone just add 20 seconds to our time. So I log this as 19:59 and hope that in a future 5K I can bring another sub-20.

6:20 Pace

F: 3/?

F 30-34: 1/17

Overall: 28/254

Rob and Me.

Rob and Drew. Drew threw down on this race! He wanted a sub-30 and was 28:44, his times just keep dropping!

Me and Drew.

Family Time

Friday was a whirlwind. I got outside for 10 Miles Easy in the ‘hood.

10 Miles Easy (‘Hood, 1;27:02, 8:43 Pace)

Saturday we flew to my hometown to attend my mom’s birthday party. The flight was perfect! The winds were so calm and the weather was so clear that we had such a smooth flight. We got to see a lot of my family. Many of them live in other states and with work and kids we rarely get this many of us together. It was such a nice time!

Rob and me.

A lot of our family came out to check out the plane and to see us off. We got out away from the airport and Rob did a roll for them. 🙂

Flight home.

We had to hurry back home for a 5K race that evening. Race report to come in the next post. 🙂