16 Mile Long Run

16 miles up at the lake, was originally planning on running 20 miles, but Judy twister her ankle, and I was beat, so decided to cut it short. Ran 15 miles, took a bit of a break to go to the bathroom and drink some water, then ran 1 more mile rather than 5. Hot out, 74F wit a 67F dewpoint at 7am, 82F with a 68F dew point at 10am, and the sun was out and quite warm, not much wind either. 16 miles in 2:54:36, average pace of 10:54, AHR of 152. Splits of 10:36, 10:25, 10:24, 10:19, 11:29 (shot bloks and refilled water), 10:37, 10:43, 10:41, 10:36, 10:54, 10:49, 11:04, 11:07, 11:30, 11:18 and 11:57 cool down mile. Could have proably made 20 miles, but didn't really see a reason for it.

Pancake Run

8.2 miles out in St Peters with the FFRC, Garmin acted up, so distance is approximate. Ran around a 9:45 pace on the average, AHR was 154. 71F with a 57F dew point, so not quite as humid as it has been, but still not all that comfortable.

5 Mile Social Run

5 miles out in Chesterfield for the Thursday evening social run. Splitting up the run seemed like a fairly easy way to get in 10 miles in the middle of the week. 49:56 total time, 9:59 average pace, 154 AHR. 83F with a 67F dewpoint, so pretty muggy, but there was a bit of a wind, so not as bad as it could have been. Garmin acted up a bit, but splits of about 9:57, 10:12, 10:02, 10:02 and 9:39.

5 Mile Morning Lake Run

5 miles up at the lake in the morning, 49:40 total time, 9:56 average pace, 153 AHR. Was 70F out with a 66F dewpoint, sticky, but not too bad. Splits of 10:07, 9:57, 10:01, 9:52 and 9:41.

5 Mile Run

5 miles up at the lake in the morning, 51:43 total time, 10:20 average pace, 149 AHR. Took it fairly easy, about 71F out with a 67F dewpoint, so a bit sticky. Splits of 10:43, 10:07, 10:22, 10:19 and 10:10.

20 Miles In The Heat

Judy was planning an 18 mile run, so I figured I'd do 20. Dropped her off at the restaurant at 6:30, I drove up to the soccer field parking lot, walked a bit, then got running at 7am. I was going to run 10, then meet Bob at 9am and run my final 10 with him. First 10 went pretty good, it was already 73F out with a 68F dewpoint at 7am, so I knew I'd need to take it pretty easy. First 10 were in about 1h45min, average pace of 10:30, AHR for the miles were in the 140s and 150s, with the 10th mile being the highest at 157. Splits of 10:42, 10:27, 10:45, 10:24, 10:25, 10:24, 10:27, 10:23, 10:23 and 10:29. Went to the bathroom, got some water, had a gu, toweled off a bit, then Bob and I got going right at 9am and it was up to 77F with a 70F dewpoint by then. First few miles were all right, though the Garmin started acting up a bit and turning off, probably due to all the sweat. Ran the last 10 miles in about 1:52:35, about 11:15 pace. Heart rate kept creeping up, with an average heart rate for mile 17 of 169. After that I started taking more walk breaks as I didn't want my heart rate to be that high. Splits for the final 10 were around 10:16, 10:24, 10:16, 10ish, 10:28, not sure, not sure, 12:00, 12:43 and 12:37. I was getting really warm by the end and it was hard to run without feeling very hot. Legs were surprisingly not too dead. At the finish, itw as 85F with a 71F dewpoint, so getting really brutal out, but at least there was a bit of a breeze. Happy to have it done.

5.85 Miles In Forest Park

Was volunteering at the Run For The Stars 5K in Forest Park, so got there early and ran a loop with Bob before. Was humid, but not too bad. Bob needed a pit stop during mile 5 and I didn't stop the garmin right away. The garmin did manage to stay on the whole time. I'm beginning to think it's moisture related as it seems that if it's raining, or if I'm sweating a ton, it seems to have more issues. 5.85 miles in 57:36 with an about 1m30sec stop during mile 5. 9:50 average pace, 149 average heart rate, splits of 9:46, 9:59, 9:03, 9:27, 10:57 and 9:46 pace for the final .85 miles. Run felt good despite being the 3rd day in a row. Temps were going up quickly, it was 61F with a 57F dewpoint at 7am, and 66F with a 58F dewpoint at 8am, so was sweating pretty good.

6 Mile Run

Ran with Judy up at the lake in the morning, 6 miles in 1:02:30. Garmin turned off once, but other than that did OK. Splits of 10:16, 10:31, 10:12, approx 10:15, 10:16 and 10:20. AHR of 145, so very low for me. Average pace of 10:25. Comfortable out, 64F with a 61F dewpoint, decent breeze.

5 Mile Chesterfield Run

Was raining hard in the morning, so figured I'd run in the evening out in Chesterfield with the Fleet Feet social run group. Started at 6:30, garmin turned off several times, but total time was 43:20 for the 5 miles so an 8:40 average pace. 8:39 and 8:56 for my first two splits but then the garmin kept turning off. AHR was 159, so not too high considering my pace. Very light rain for some of it, but overall OK out, 63F with a 60F dewpoint, so humid.

6 Mile Lake Run

Comfortable out, 55F with a 52F dewpoint, fairly easy run. 6 miles in 58:06, average pace of 9:41, AHR of 152. Splits of 10:25, 9:48, 9:39, 9:38, 9:41 and 8:52.

16 Tough Miles

Volunteered at the Girls On The Run 5K in Forest Park in the morning, so didn't run until the afternoon. Ate lunch, looked at the radar and saw that rain was coming in, would probably get here around 4pm or 5pm, so headed out and got running shortly after 12:30. Was planning on running 18, but was running the 16th mile and figured I didn't really need to run 18, so cut it off there. 2:50:37 total time, so average pace of 10:39, AHR of 154. While running temps were around 63F with a 56F dewpoint, so not quite into the 'uncomfortable' range for me. Splits of 10:22, 10:21, 10:25, 10:19, 10:26, 10:47, 10:39, 10:37, 10:36, 10:40, 10:35, 10:38, 10:45, 10:50, 10:56 and 11:33. Was happy when it was over, walked 2.5 miles after the run and they were slow - nearly a 20 minute/mile pace. Guessing standing around at the 5K for a few hours took a bit out of my legs.

7.5 Mile FFRC Run

7.5 miles out in St Peters with the FFRC. Ran with Bob and Ken most of the way, rained on us the whole time. Heart monitor acted up and didn't work much of the time. Ran fairly easy, but we were soaked, so it was harder going than it should have been. 1:15:33 total time, 10:04 pace, 152 average heart rate for when it was working. Splits of 9:59, 10:10, 10:15, 10:17, 9:41, 10:00, 10:05 and 10:03 pace for the final .5 miles. 57F with a 52F dewpoint, so fairly comfortable out.

8 Mile Morning Run

8 miles up at the lake. It was 72F with a 66F dewpoint when we left the house, but it was overcast. The TV Weatherman had said that rain would hold off until the afternoon, but it started to rain at 7am, heh. Never very hard, but the wind was pretty gusty. Probably for the best, as it did seem to cool things off slightly. Started off slow, was able to pick up the pace as I went. 1:18:54 total time, 9:51 pace, 158 AHR. Splits of 10:28, 10:11, 10:11, 9:45, 9:42, 9:44, 9:46 and 9:03. Glad to get it done, felt a bit bleh by the end, need to get use to the warmth I think.

7 Mile Lake Run

7 miles up at the lake, ran out on the spur over the pedestrian bridge, then was blocked by angry geese so turned around, headed up towards the sail boat cove, then back, up the overpass hill, then to the car. Took it fairly easy, but my heart rate was higher than I expected. 1:07:52 total time, 9:42 average pace, 159 AHR. Splits of 9:56, 9:34, 9:47, 9:38, 9:48, 9:48 and 9:19. Pretty warm out 66F at 7:50am with a 60F dewpoint, but there was a bit of a breeze, so didn't feel too bad.

Quincy Bridge The Gap Half Marathon

Quincy "Bridge The Gap" Half Marathon in Quincy, IL. We drove up Friday after work, went to the expo, had the spaghetti dinner there and heard Amby Burfoot speak, which was interesting. Spaghetti was all right, hit the spot, but wasn't great. We then went and checked into the hotel, relaxed a bit, and went to bed. Got up in the morning, got dressed and headed the 3 or so blocks to the start line. It was about 42F with a stiff wind from the west, gusts over 30mph. It was a bit chilly, but I figured I'd be fine once I got running. The race started by going up a hill the over the Mississippi, then turning around and coming back. On the way out was into the wind, on the way back was with the wind. We then wound our way through a park, which had a decent sized hill, and then we ran out and back going north, turning around shortly before the 8 mile point and heading back to the start. I felt good the whole way, took 7 water and/or gu breaks along the way, but expect for the 2 Gu breaks, they were shorter than a minute. Started off with a 9:33, 9:17 and 9:25 miles as I warmed up and got past the major hills. Then I ran 8:24 (including the down hill out of the park), 9:01 (had a Gu), 8:44, 8:58 and 8:46 north somewhat into the wind. After the turn around, I figured I would pick up the pace and see how things felt, as I figured I could make 2:00 pretty easily and I might have a chance at a PR if I picked up the pace. I ran 8:19 and 8:37 (had another Gu) and hit 10 miles at about 89 minutes, so if I averaged under 8:20 a mile for the last 3.1 miles I'd get my PR. I then ran 8:15, 8:26 and 8:04, then 0:40 for the last approx .1 mile to finish in 1:54:35 officially. Felt really good, and not overly tired, probably could have pushed it a bit more, but sometimes it's hard to tell. Jackie Joyner Kersee put my medal on me at the finish line. Walked back to the hotel, changed, then came back and waited for Judy. She finished in about 2h40min, so I good time for her as well. We then went back to the hotel, showered and headed to the 'Best Buffet' Chinese buffet, which was pretty good but I definitely over ate. A good experience, will probably do it again sometime.

6 Mile Morning Run

6 miles out at the lake, planning on running sub 9 minute miles, but felt a bit worn out and tired, so ran 3 harder miles then 3 easier miles. Ran out on the spur and back, then down to the woods and back. On the spur, after the pedestrian bridge there was a very defensive goose who was a bit tricky to get around. He was not in a good mood, and I had to pass him again on the way back. Other than that, it was a very nice morning out, and the run felt pretty good, though I did feel a bit tired overall. 6 miles in 56:52, 9:28 average pace, splits of 8:59, 8:59, 9:18, 9:48, 9:58 and 9:47, average heart rate of 151.

6 Mile Run

6 miles out at the lake, running out on the spur 2 miles, then back and south into the woods, then returning. Was cool out, in the upper 50s, and was running pretty easy. 59:54 total time, 9:59 average pace, 151 AHR, splits of 10:26, 10:04, 9:50, 9:56, 9:37 and 9:59.

16 Mile Long Run

16 miles out at the lake, running the first 6 solo, then running 10 miles with Bob. Glad he came out, as the last few miles were a struggle. Did a big loop starting at the soccer field, then ran clockwise from the soccer field, through the woods, out past the swimming pool and north on the road until we hit 5 miles, then returning the same way. Wasn't quite as humid today, but was getting warm, about 70F when we finished, with a 55F dewpoint. 2:43:28 total time, 10:13 average pace, 156 AHR, though the last 7 miles all miles were over 160 average, with the last mile being 167, so I was wearing down. Splits of 10:14, 10:16, 10:17, 10:11, 10:18, 10:00, 9:53, 10:03, 10:07, 10:10, 10:34, 10:20, 10:11, 10:04, 10:21 and 10:22. Happy with the run, but getting in my final long runs before Grandma's marathon will be pretty tough.

7 Mile St Peters Run

7 miles out on the St Peter's FFRC course, running with Tim and Sue the whole way, and some others for part of the way. Took it easy, was warm and humid out (about 60F out, but near 100% humidity) but with the pace I went it didn't seem to affect me. 1:12:21 total time, 10:20 average pace, 149 AHR. Splits of 10:21, 10:21, 10:26, 10:41, 10:10, 10:14 and 10:05.