Happy Fall!

Crazy that the weather has turned to fall so easily - it's like Mother Nature flipped a switch, and we are sitting pretty for a nice cool week up north :) Several articles I found - first deals with the mental aspect of running and how the brain acts almost as a governor to regulate your body from overworking. Next, a small tidbit about the world marathon record - marathon greats Paul Tergat and Sammy Wanjiru are pretty confident that it will stay for a long time to come. This next article talks about the newest entrants for the NYC Marathon - Olympic medalist Meb Keflezighi, three-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman, and 2008 Olympian Jorge Torres will be running in the Big Apple. This will be an absolutely amazing race with almost all the top American distance runners competing! Finally, an article from the NY Times talking about Lance Armstrong and his desire to pace Joan Benoit Samuelson in her efforts this November.

Tuesday, got in a nice run on an absolutely gorgeous evening. We hit the trails and did a pretty standard out and back. Nothing crazy to note - felt pretty good, never pushed the pace at all. Enjoyed the amazing fall weather, which is my favorite weather to run! Total mileage: 6 miles - splits averaged 8-9 minutes. Wednesday, was rushing to get back into the city for a get-together at a friend's house, so did my scheduled easy run a little quicker than I would have liked. Weather was once again perfect - high 60's, sunny, and a little breeze. Didn't wear a watch, and had just eaten not too long before so just wanted to let my body dictate the pace. Kind of felt like I was going faster, but didn't try to regulate much since I knew I was under some time constraints. Wind and hills made me a bit lethargic by the end, but was glad to get it over with. Total mileage: 4 miles - total time ran was 28-29 minutes.

Pushed it a little on my easy day, so will be sure to rest up over the weekend. Pacing Crystal in her Team Tri event on Sunday, so will be my last major speedwork before the marathon. Ended up going to see Kings of Leon last night - awesome concert and got to hang out with a fun group of buddies so all in all a great night! Will post pics later this week...