Fourth Fun

Based on the posts this morning, it looks like we all balanced our holiday intake with some fun runs. I did the same with the Hingham 4th of July race. The highlight of that one is always the start. We all gather at the local middle school and reconnect with old friends, classmates and townies. This year, my sis joined us as a surprise visitor from Seattle. She flew in to spend the long weekend.

Despite the family atmosphere of the race, this has never been one that I can just "fun run." I always want to do my best and leave nothing behind on the course. This year was no different.

With 2200 runners, the start is always a slow, zig-zaggy adventure. You're doing well if you emerge from the pack without twisting an ankle, and you always try to make back lost time. Case in point: At the first mile marker, I posted about an 8:40 pace, and I wasn't happy. I turned it on for mile two, posting about a 6:15 -- waayyy too fast. I paid for my launch into hyper speed with a tightened calf. I slowed to a more reasonable 7:13 pace for mile 3 and stopped halfway through it to stretch a bit. Into mile 4, the calf started to loosen up, which reminded me that it generally takes me about 15 - 20 minutes to warm up. I definitely will start doing warm up runs before short races in the future. It's become a necessity. Anyway, by the end of the race, I posted a 33:07 for the 4.6 mile course. I'm happy with the time and with my place in the overall standings. Not sure how it compares to last year. I'll have to look that one up (results are on-line).

So, funny thing happened as I started this post. I rechecked my splits and realized that my first mile was actually a 7:57, which is not bad at all. I must have read my watch wrong because I remember being pissed. I wonder what my mile two would have been like had I read it correctly?

I'm letting my body heal a bit, so I haven't run since the fourth. We're in a heat wave in VT right now. It's supposed to break tomorrow, and that's when I will get out again. A 5-er would be good.

Nice to see us all getting active on the roads and on the blog. Looking forward to our next chance to run together.

Later boys.

Run 4 on the 4th, and more

First off, thank you for all of the comments on my last post. The FreeArtists spent the long weekend with Ms. FA's folks, who have a convenient three-mile out-and-back between their garage and the entrance to their subdivision. It's a pretty route, heavily wooded with a few big, widely spaced houses. The variety of bird life is remarkable, with loads of red-bellied woodpeckers. Anyway, Ms. FA and I did our walk/run combo 2x over the weekend, on Friday and on Saturday. The comments with which I tinkered the most....running with less bend in my arms seems to help me remember to drop my shoulders and therefore reduce the tension in my upper torso. I also spent more time looking up at the world and the sky, rather than down at the road, which (I think) opened my airway a bit more. The heavy humidity made it difficult to gauge any incremental improvements in my breathing, though. More later, and thanks again.