Is it really Friday already?!

First, this is pretty cool - Ryan and Meb are both running in Boston this April!!! No American runner has won since Greg Meyer in 1983, so I would say there is a great chance it may happen in 2010. Excited to run with these guys, and will be an event to remember!!! Second, Brooks sent me an email yesterday renewing my sponsorship for 2010! This may have been the kick in the butt that I needed, as I am suddenly very motivated to get in some good miles despite battling some illness and lingering Vegas hangover! So I am in the process of reaccessing my goals for 2010, and after I figure it out I will lay them out for all to see...

Yesterday, was on cloud 9 with the Brooks news, so actually got in my run immediately after work instead of waiting till the last second of the evening. Weather was sunny and cold with a little breeze, somewhere in the 30's. Strapped on my new Adrenaline 10's, and decided to do a progressive tempo run. Wanted to hit somewhere in the low 7 first mile, then decrease times each mile until I couldn't do anymore. Felt pretty good starting out, hills always a pain to try to get into a good rhythm but I was watching my Garmin and splits. Hit the first mile exactly where I wanted to, and kept forging on. Was initially thinking I could get in 2 miles on the trail, but it was so cloudless that I thought maybe I could really battle the sun and try to get in a few extra miles. 2nd mile, looked at my watch and was booking, so forced myself to slow down the last quarter. Was a tad fast on the mile, but still felt fine. Third was more of the same - felt decent, was trying to do the math in my head to find out where I should be every half mile. Slowed down a little at the end to catch up. Fourth mile, had the turnaround so felt myself picking it up a lot initially to make up for the lost 5 or so seconds. Was coasting, and it was starting to get pretty dark so I think my body too off. Was not pleased to see me hit 14 seconds faster despite slowing it down a bit, so I knew the miles moving forward were going to be a challenge.

Fifth mile was a beast, but it was flat and I knew I was racing the sun to get off the trail. Finally got a mile where I ran consistently the entire way, but the mile times were getting pretty fast at this point so I really couldn't slow down. Contemplated stopping at this point and doing a couple mile cooldown to end it, but had some gas left in the tank, so decided to try to hit the hilly 6th mile hard. Brain wasn't having much luck computing numbers at this point, so did my best to approximate my half splits. Last 0.15 is uphill, and wasn't feeling too hot so eased up. Hit a good split, so I knew I had to keep going since the next mile was a slight downhill grade. 7th mile just sucked. My form was suffering, and had to battle minor traffic. At this point, if I stopped, would have killed me so had to make a few swerves. Was pretty tired at this point, and knew this was my last mile, plus I could do a nice 1 mile cooldown upon completion. Was monitoring my watch, and knew towards the end of the mile I had developed a good cushion, so sort of eased up. Maybe a little too much, because I beat my 6th mile split by a whopping 1 second! Oops!, but nailed the workout parameters so was extremely pleased. Did 1 mile cooldown home, sort of raced the cars since traffic bunches up big time around that area due to rush hour and a quick light. Stretched out like mad afterwards. Total mileage: 8 miles - splits were: 7:05, 6:49, 6:40, 6:27, 6:24, 6:15, 6:14.

The workout was a beast, but I crushed it so was very happy. Hit the last 10K right around 40 minutes, so I feel that my speed shape is ok considering my lack of speedwork this winter. Going to try to hit the next couple weeks hard and get faster, and maybe squeeze in 1 more 5K to end the year. TGIF!!!