14 Mile Run

Legs are shot from the past 3 days of running. Heal is sore, legs are tired, but figured I better get out there. Ran fairly slow and steady, 14 miles in 2:25:52, 10:25 pace, 149 AHR. Ran counter clockwise from the restaurant, out on the spur, then back the same way. Splits of 10:44, 10:26, 10:21, 10:16, 10:20, 10:22, 10:27, 10:15, 10:26, 10:24, 10:25, 10:27, 10:23 and 10:30. Took a 1 minutes walk break every mile. When I was done my legs were *really* shot and my calf muscles felt like one wrong move could snap them off the bone. Decent weather out, overcast and sprinkled a bit, but overall fairly decent.

Alton 10 Mile River Run

Alton 10 Mile River Run, 50th year for it, big crowd. Amazingly perfect day, temps around 50F at the start, into the 60s by finish time, light breeze and sunny. Started off running with Bob and Kelly, but Kelly sped up and left us in the dust. My legs were tired from the last two days of running and I never really felt 100% comfortable, but I was able to maintain a decent pace anyway. Helped running with Bob, that's for sure. 10 miles in 1:27:15, splits of 8:54, 8:51, 8:58, 8:55, 8:43, 8:43, 8:42, 8:38, 8:32, 8:06 and 0:09 for the final .02 miles to the finish line. Sped up quite a bit at the end, with my heart rate getting up to 181, I kept thinking Bob was going to pass me at anytime, heh. 515 of 1256 finishers, 387 of 698 men, and 217 of 400 in my age group (40-64 age group). Fastest 10 Mile run ever, by about 2 1/2 minutes, and about 6 minutes faster than last years race. Ate at Fast Eddie's afterwards, very busy - very tasty.

Town and Country 5K

5K in Town and Country, chilly out, first freeze of the year, though the sun was out and there was near zero wind, so it felt better than yesterday. Course was short, about 2.8 miles, and there was no timing, so time and distance is from the garmin. I thought about trying to better my 5K time from yesterday, but after the first mile, I started slowing down. Splits of 7:48, 8:20 and 6:51 for the final .79 miles for a 8:41 pace. AHR of 169. Fun, small race.

Chesterfield Turkey Trot 5K

Chesterfield Turkey Trot 5K, finished in 24:37, 7:56 average pace, 170 AHR, splits of 8:28 (a bit congested at the start), 7:53, 7:32 and 0:51 for the final .12 for a 7:07 pace. Felt pretty good, ran the first mile with Bob, but when I sped up a bit I lost him. Basically run around the Chesterfield Mall, so a bit on the dull side. Fairly chilly out, around 40F but with a stiff gusty wind from the west. 5K PR, finished 397 of 2357, 305 of 1127 men, and 28 of 148 in my age group, by far my best finish in a race, though there were a lot of walkers and such.

8 Mile Run

8 miles up at the lake, running to the south end, then through the woods, then back through the woods around around past the restaurant then out on the spur and back. Ran moderately hard, but not too hard. Decided to run hard the final mile to see what I should expect to do on Thursday. The 8 min/mile pace felt all right, should be able to do it Thursday. Splits of 10:01, 9:29, 9:16, 9:22, 9:26, 9:20, 9:20 and 7:59, total time of 1:14:13, average pace of 9:16, AHR of 157. Decent temperature, ran in shorts, but there was a bit of a wind from the south.

10 Mile Run

10 miles up at the lake, running to the south end, then out on the spur a mile, then up around the soccer fields, then back out on the spur, then back to the restaurant. Total time of 1:34:58, average pace of 9:29, AHR of 158. Splits of 9:44, 9:25, 9:35, 9:45, 9:43, 9:30, 9:28, 9:26, 9:10 and 9:07. Felt pretty good, but probably ran harder than I should have, was more tired when done than I thought I should be. Busy week with races coming up.

5.6 Miles at Lake

5.6 miles up at the lake with the FFRC, running with Tim, Tim's friend Bob, and Sue, though Sue ran the upper loop only, and we ran the big loop. Felt pretty good, took it farily slow. 58:20 overall time, 10:25 pace, splits of 10:46, 10:27, 10:36, 10:07, 10:20 and 6:03. AHR of 152. Was 42F when we left the house, but no wind and felt pretty comfortable out. Plan on doing 8 or 10 tomorrow, we'll see how that feels.

3 Mile Neighborhood Run

3 miles around the neighborhood. About 45F out and a bit of drizzle, but little wind and fairly comfortable out. Took it easy, felt pretty good being back out there. Splits of 10:14, 10:07 and 9:33, total time of 29:55, average pace of 9:58, AHR of 154. We'll see how Saturday goes.

San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon 2009

San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. Woke up at 4:30am, got dressed and walked about a mile to where the shuttle was picking up people to take us to the start line. Line was long, took about 40 minutes to get on, and the line was about twice as long when we finally got on the bus as it was when we got in line. They dropped us off about a mile from the gear check area, which was probably less than 2 miles from our hotel, it would have been a lot quicker and hardly any more walking to just walk to the start rather than take the shuttle bus, heh.

Found Marc and Zoe, but didn't find Tim or Debby from the FFRC. Things were getting ready to get started, we were in corral 16, then we decided to hop over to the porta-johns as the lines were nonexistent. As things were not yet moving, we actually got back into the corral around corral 15. We got started right before 8am, about 29 minutes after the gun went off. Zoe was going to be running a bit slower, so Marc and I headed off.

First mile was 10:42, followed by a 10:10, 10:04, 10:22, 10:12 and 10:05, then a .1 mile 1:00 split to get back in sync with the mile markers. We were feeling good and had a steady pace, generally walking after each water stop for about a minute. We had a time of 1:03:31 at the 10K split. We then had splits of 10:07, 9:41, 10:05, 10:00, 10:20, 9:55, a .1 mile 1:01 split to get back in sync with mile markers, and a 10:21 split, and then a 10:21 mile. About mile 11 the course split off, and for a while we could see people coming in from the long mostly out and back. We hit the half marathon in 2:15:05, a 10:18 pace, so we were going good but we were planning on slowing down the second half as we tired and got warm.

We had miles of 10:38, 10:07 and 10:51 that followed. Marc said an extended walk break would be good, so we walked about a 1/2 mile, then ran the rest for a 13:34 mile. This was followed by a 11:24 and 11:48 mile as we started to take longer walk breaks. Mile 20 was a mostly walking mile, coming in at 17:01. During this mile Debby and her sister passed us. After they went by, I ran up in front of them and took a few pictures before waiting for Marc to catch up. His stomach was giving him fits as it seemed that the gu and the cytomax didn't mix well. Had a .13 mile split in 2:13 to get back in sync with the mile markers, hitting the 20 mile split in 3:40:25, an 11:01 pace. Shortly after the 20 mile mark, Marc had to stop at a porta-john as his stomach went into reverse mode. We sat there for a bit while Marc tried to feel better. He decided he should probably drop out; since he had ran marathons before, he didn't feel the need to push himself just so he could finish - 20 miles was enough. So we walked to the next medical tent at about 20.5 miles, and he sat down to rest, and I continued on.

I ran most of the rest of the mile and the time for that mile was 20:36. After that I ran a 10:58 mile as I worked on getting back in the groove. It was getting quite warm out, and any time the sun popped out from the clouds, it was brutal. A quick .1 mile 1:02 mile split to get back in sync, and I figured out I needed to run just under 11 minute miles the rest of the way to finish under 5 hours. I felt I needed some goal, as if I didn't set one I'd end up walking the rest of the way in. So off I went, running 10:59, 10:53, 10:45, 10:37 and a 2:00 over the final .22 miles to hit 4:59:39, an 11:26 pace, the same as I did for the Lewis and Clark Marathon where I did the 5 hour pace group for, but quite a different race. Afterwards, I got my gear bag, sat for a bit, met up with Marc and Zoe (Marc had grabbed a ride from the SAG wagon and almost beat me to the finish), then waited for Judy. She came in shortly after 6 hours, we then walked back to the hotel, showered, rested for a bit, then walked and met Marc and Zoe at Fogo de Chao, a Brazillian Steakhouse, for a very, VERY tasty dinner. Another marathon down, number 13, woo!

2.5 Mile Run in San Antonio

2.5 miles around the hotel in San Antonio, sticking to a 10 min/mile pace. Felt pretty good, though it was a bit warm and muggy out. Suppose to be similar tomorrow, so I better get use to it. Splits of 10:05, 9:56 and a 9:54 pace for the final half mile. 25:01 for a little over 2.5 miles, 9:59 average pace, AHR 148, run felt pretty good.

3 Miles in Austin

3 miles in Austin with Wang, running around his neighborhood. Ran easy, took a few walk breaks, splits of 10:47, 10:46 and 10:41, average pace of 10:45, AHR of 142. Keeping loose for the marathon.

3 Mile Neighborhood Run

3 miles around the neighborhood in 29:12, average pace of 9:44, AHR of 155, splits of 9:55, 9:42 and 9:32. Run felt good, nice weather, ready for the marathon.

3 MIle Easy Run

3 miles up at the lake, running out on the spur and back. Easy run to keep loose and burn some calories. Splits of 9:57, 9:45, and 9:35, AHR of 150, average pace of 9:46.

10 Mile Run

10 miles up at the lake, running the big loop counter clockwise until I got to the soccer field parking lot, where I ran across the lot and then south towards the circle, then returning the same way. Started off a bit too fast, started slowing down after the first 4 or so miles, but still not a terrible pace. Legs were tired from the trail run apparently. 10 miles in 1:36:58, average pace of 9:41, AHR of 160. Splits of 9:29, 9:19, 8:59, 9:33, 9:56, 9:57, 9:53, 9:59, 10:01 and 9:48. Time to rest up for the marathon.

Wild In The Woods Quail Ridge 5M

5 mile trail run out at Quail Ridge park, final Wild In The Woods run. We started in a field about 20 wide or so, but after 100 yards the course narrowed to a single track trail, so a big log jam. Course was fairly tough, had to watch my footing often and there were few times I could run without focusing. Ran most of the way with Bob. Splits of 10:43, 9:41, 10:58, 10:36 and 10:00. Finish was a tough uphill. Overall 52:00, 10:24 pace, 169 AHR, though the max was 179 during the final mile with a 175 average over the final mile. Fun series, will do again. Was 72 out of 126, 52 out of 75 men, and 12 out of 14 in my age group. Some day I'll do better (:

3 Mile Neighborhood Run

On call, so decided to just run around the neighborhood. 3 miles in 28:52, average pace of 9:37, AHR of 155, a bit higher because of the hills I'm guessing, splits of 9:38, 9:43 and 9:29. Felt good, though it did feel longer, guess my brain likes running up at the lake more.

5 Miles

5 miles up at the lake, running the south tail and then out on the spur over the two hills, then back to the circle, then back out on the spur over the hills again, and then back. Took it easy, 5 miles in 49:58, AHR of 149, splits of 10:39, 9:58, 9:56, 9:55 and 9:29. In the upper 30s, but wasn't too cold.

St Louis Track Club Half Marathon

St Louis Track Club Half Marathon in Clayton. Great day out, ran with Bob, Kelly and Jason for nearly the whole way. They didn't let me get in any walk breaks, so I walked briefly only twice the whole way. Felt very good and had a great race. Officially 1:55:01 for an 8:47 pace, AHR was 165. We started out fairly quick as the first few miles are net downhill, running splits of 9:00, 8:35 and 8:27. In the Park we ran splits of 8:50, 8:41, 9:06, 8:28, 8:56, 8:41, a short 25 second lap to get back on the mile markers, and then 8:51. On the way back to Clayton, which is mostly uphill, ran 9:08, 8:46, kicked it in with an 8:09 and then 1:02 for the final .13 miles (7:48 pace). I guess I should have ran just a bit harder at the end to get under 1:55, but I thought I was going to make it. 380 of 852 overall, 283 of 481 of the men, and 51 of 85 in my age group. PR by over 7 minutes, felt like I could have gone a bit faster or ran a few more mile with ease.