Friday, woke up early to get in a run at my home away from home, Lakeshore Bike Trail. Felt pretty good, although a little tired from the long night of travel, but ready to get it on. Did a quick warmup on my way to the trail, and headed south towards the city – most amazing scenary I can find in this area :) Was sort of breezy, but felt ok through the first mile. Realized I was going faster than I wanted to, but tried to keep up the pace. Right before my second mile split, my shoelace untied so had to stop for a minute to retie it – took a quick 30 second break, then was on my way back. Third mile was a little tiring, but picked it up on my last mile. Felt pretty awesome overall, and celebrated my good run with a little cooldown back to Anne’s apartment. Total mileage: 5 miles (w/warmup and cooldown). Splits were: 6:27, 6:22, 6:21, 6:14.
Afterwards, went to Wrigleyville to get ready for the big Cards/Cubs game! Met up with Pat and Crystal, watched the Cubs get beat down, then hung out in the city for a while afterwards. Went to a nice Vietnamese restaurant called “Le Colonial” to help celebrate Dave’s birthday, then actually called it an early night – tired from early morning and day drinking at Wrigley!!! Woke up early Saturday to join the New Balance running group. I had been in email contact with John, one of the runners, and talked about doing 14-15 miles that morning. Started on our way headed north towards Lakeshore – weather was a little warm and humid, but quite honestly nothing compared to what STL weather typically is! I was completely amazed with the amount of runners on Lakeshore that morning! I counted at least 20 running groups of 20+ runners (marathon training season!), and who knows how many bikers/walkers/joggers besides that?! Just amazing, I wish we had that type of participation around here. First couple miles felt like complete crap. Probably was from all the day drinking and debauchery the day before, so was worn down and struggling. Spent a lot of time running around groups, puddles, etc., so felt like I was running a fartlek the entire time because of all the impromptu surges. A few of the other runners in the NB group caught up to us, so enjoyed good conversation and letting the group dictate the pace while I coasted along. Went almost 6 miles out, then took a quick water break, then headed back. John had to be in South Bend, IN for a family birthday party, so we picked up the pace a bit since the clock was ticking. Hit a few low 7 minute miles, and started to get really tired. Stopped for a bathroom break about a mile from our start point, and realized that time was an issue with John so we called it quits. Jogged back to Anne’s, hung out with Barrel for a bit (who had just arrived), dragged Dave outside later on for a quick 3 to finish my workout. Didn’t go too fast, was able to enjoy the scenery and properly cooldown. Awesome long run, happy to get it done nice and early before the long day. Total mileage: ~15 – splits were all over the map ranging from 7:08 to 8:20, averaged 7:55, I believe.
Headed down to Wrigleyville for Day 2 of Cubs/Cards, enjoyed a beautiful day in the bleachers with friends and family, and an amazing Cubs victory :) Didn’t make it out too long, partied myself out after the game and was pretty much out like a light! Sunday, had early breakfast with Dave before he left (rode back with friends), lunch with Anne and Ben at Café Ba Ba Reeba (breakfast tapas – heavenly!), then headed back to the Lou. Got back to humid weather, but was cooling down a bit, and headed out for a quick 6 with Crystal. Wasn’t feeling too hot from a long weekend of partying, so was hoping to keep a pretty easy pace on the GC trails and just enjoy the evening. Started out ok on the first mile, but was getting tired fast. Hit faster second mile, then realized Crystal wasn’t slowing down (wtf?!). She was starting to gap me on the third mile, and I realized we were hitting low 7 minute pace when I was expecting to run high 8’s, so had to put in some effort to try to keep up. Was starting to feel pretty sorry for myself, but then my competitive urges snapped me out of my funk at the turn around and pretty much announced we were picking it up, much to Crystal’s chagin. Proceeded to blaze through the next couple miles and push it a little, but felt great. I guess if I was going to suffer through a run, might as well work for it, right?!?! Slowed down on the last mile as the last 3 miles were uphill. Afterwards, Crystal and I yelled at each other for running with other people over the weekend (she did her long run with her brother-in-law Chris on Sat. morning), and had a nice laugh. Stretched, watched Entourage season premiere afterwards. Total mileage: 6 – splits were: 8:20, 7:47, 7:07, 6:51, 6:35, 7:48.
This week was proclaimed our week off, so enjoyed not having to run last night :) Actually had the opportunity to go see the All-Star Game Homerun Derby at Busch Stadium, and enjoyed a beautiful evening with Barrel enjoying the sights and sounds of baseball’s all star break. Awesome times, will post pics soon. Tonight, actually doing track work, wanted to get in a couple workouts this week but keep it light because of our “week off”. The 12 week maintenance cycle was successful, as I feel I retained a lot of speed but definitely improved back to good form on endurance. 5K this weekend in Maryville, should be fun!!!
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