4th of July Weekend/Macklind Mile Recap

Geez - it's been a little bit since I've updated this, so let's get on with a FAST recap. Happy Belated 4th of July everyone! Friday, ended up taking the day off of work and doing errands/bbqing/hanging out with friends. Didn't get a run in like I would have liked, but that was fine with the Macklind Mile the next morning.

Macklind Mile Recap

Saturday morning, woke up to pouring rain. Went to weather.com and saw it wasn't going to stop for the next few hours. Got changed, ready, ate a light breakfast of fruit and juice, and headed over to Crystal's. She was still in her pajamas and didn't look overly motivated to race. After 15 minutes deliberation, she got ready and we sat there deciding whether it was worth 3 hours in the rain for a 1 mile race we barely trained for. To make a long story short, decided not to run, mainly factoring in our last rainy race experience, so a huge disappointing DNS/DNF for me. Felt AWFUL about skipping the race, and was just disappointed in myself period. There isn't much much more to talk about concerning this race other than I suck.

Went home, fell back asleep for another few hours, then went back to do a treadmill pace run which is what I was originally going to do before the race. Didn't feel too hot, after the first mile just felt like I was struggling. 4th mile was a beast, just felt like crap overall. Last mile felt better, but was definitely relieved to be done. Short cooldown/stretching afterwards. Total mileage: ~6.5 - splits were: 7:08, 7:08. 7:08, 7:08, 7:08, 7:08.

Sunday morning, was dragged out for a morning long run. Weather was cool, but it was HUMID. Chose the bike trail out and back loop towards Glen Carbon - Crystal's coworker Tom (who biked the team triathlon portion) ran with us, and we got on our way. To make a long story short, never got in a good rhythm and struggled almost the entire way. Fortunately, got a little second wind on the 4th mile and was able to make it up the hill to the turn around. Felt like crap on the 8th mile, and had to play mind games with myself to make it back. Forgot my Garmin, but remember we hit faster miles early and settled in around 8:15 pace the rest of the way. Total mileage: 12 miles - average split was 8:11.

Cursed Crystal under my breath during the entire two hours of running, but was pretty happy to get it over with. Went home, showered/napped, then watched an absolute amazing Wimbledon final followed by Tiger winning his own tournament in D.C. Good day for 2 of my favorite athletes :) Monday night, got in an easy 4 miles. Weather was in the 80's and humid, struggled through the "easy" run. Prob would have been ok, but ran into so many people on the trail so my stupid competitive self picked up the pace. Felt like crap at the end, ran anywhere from 30-36 minutes, forgot when exactly I left.

So the 12 week maintenance cycle is coming to an end and despite the crappy running week I've had, I feel pretty decent. In complete guilt of missing the Macklind Mile, found a local 5K in a couple weekends that I will most likely run now. Haven't really done the speed stuff I would have liked to prepare for a 5K, but will come up with some workouts over the next couple weeks to get my legs geared up. Also running a 5K Cross Country race with Tim when he is back in town at the end of the month, but not running competitively.

Tonight, doing a Mizuno shoe technology seminar thingy at my running store, then hitting the track for a ladder workout. Might move the long run to tomorrow since I will be in Chicago for a long weekend to see my beloved Cubbies!!!