OK, let's go. Once I bailed from the VCM I took about 5 weeks off, running once in that span. I let myself go because I rationalized that I was working really hard and not sleeping and too stressed and only had so much emotional bandwidth and wanted to see my kids in the time I wasn't glued to the laptop and blah blah blah blah. Couple that with copious beer consumption and a fair to poor diet and I was really sliding into oblivion.
Last summer was a poor running summer for me, and this one was shaping up to be the same. So, about the last week of June I decided to stop sucking and decided to start running again. I started going to bed earlier, I started rationing my beer and eating better and stopped looking for excuses.
I banged out 4 runs, most of them on Cape Cod. I felt good, I limited myself to 5Ks.
I felt like I was on track. Then it rained, hard, for a week, and I didn't run until July 4 when I ran my town's 5K. I went out too fast and flagged near the end -- it was a warning sign and a lesson. I ran a decent time, 23:24, but a poor race. We spent the next week on the Cape and I ran about 4 times, all about 5K to just about 5 miles. For some reason I had a block on the 5 miler . . . silly at this point in my running, even when not in great shape. After returning I ran a few times at home -- sort of uneventful, but the flat of the Cape hurt me on the little hills around here. Weird.
Last week I ran twice and swam twice becuse I signed up for the off-road tri I did last year. I would have liked to run one more time, but it wasn't to be and 4 workouts felt good even if my runs were weird funky affairs in which I felt lousy over the 3.3 and 5 miles respectively. Monday of this week I was ready to hit the road and was felled by some weird stomach bug which basically knocked me out Monday and much of Tuesday. I let Wednesday get away from me and ran a 5 mile race in Weston, MA last night (Thursday).
It was a big test for me and I had no idea how I'd do or what I expected. Like all runs (except 5Ks) my goal was to do at least 9s. My target was 41-42, and my reach was 40. It was raining. It was 7 PM. It was a big field for around here, at least 1,200 people. The race started on grass then hit the streets of Weston and then finished on grass onto the high school track. The rain was fun. The surface variation was fun and I love finishing races on tracks -- I just feel like I'm gliding. I can recall pretty much all of my splits, but am foggy on my finishing time:
- Mile 1, 7:49
- Mile 2, 15:23
- Mile 3, 23:06
- Mile 4, 30:51
- Finish, 38:24
1 comment:
Great post. Great to hear from you. Let's go now. Talk with you soon.
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