Home stretch

Wednesday
3.2 miles
22 minutes and change

Thursday
7 miles
52 minutes and change

These two runs were about trying to get some speed in, and I incorporated various motivators in each one. For the first, guilt kept me going. Mrs. VT Runner and I worked out a plan in which she would pick me up at work (she's having work done on her car) at 6PM, which would give me enough time to run and shower. As often happens at the end of the day, time somehow accelerated, and I didn't get out of the building until 5:45pm. I figured I'd be ok because the run was only going to be a 5K and ten minutes late is not horrible. Unfortunately, I was totally busted. As I burst through the doors and started to run, I saw my wife and kids sitting in my car in the parking lot. They got there early! Man, did I feel like a loser, making everyone wait. Mrs. VT Runner's response? "Don't stand here talking to me, go run!" (in a pleasant, supportive way). Anyway, knowing that they were hanging out in the car gave me incentive to haul...and I did. Felt really good.

Yesterday, I ran with my running partner at his pace, which is very different from mine. He's looking to run a 3:10 marathon, which is somewhere around a 7 minute mile pace, so the motivation was just to hang with or at least within site of him. I stuck with him for the first 2 miles and then dropped back a bit. Still, the end result was something like a 7:30 pace for the 7 miles. Slightly painful and too fast for the race, but it was good to push.

Now I'm off to the outer banks for a week-long family vacation with two other families. I'm psyched to taper the distances, but slightly worried about the booze factor, given how much the guys we're staying with like to put back the brews. What the heck, beer's a carb, right?

FreeArtist, good luck this weekend! It will be epic!

Agricola, I'll plant this seed with you. If you're around on July 4th, think about joining me for the early morning (7:30am) race in my hometown in MA. It's a good 4 miler. Lots of fun with a 10:00 parade to follow.

Later boys.