Race for a Child 5K Recap

Great articles today - Top 10 reasons to own Brooks racing flats, controversy at the World's (Bolt's DQ), is Rupp fast enough to medal in London?, Ryan Hall and his new training (also running Virginia Beach this weekend), Mo Farah and a thrilling World Championship 10K final, Bekele pulls out of the Worlds, Symmonds advances to the 800 meter finals, more Bolt, and a Japanese running tribute to Steve Jobs LOL.

Saturday, August 27 - 8 miles: 2 up, RACE FOR A CHILD 5K (18:52 - 8th overall), 3 down. Ridiculously sunny and a little warm morning - headed to Soulard to go run a 5K for the heck of it, but more importantly a test to see where my level of fitness was at. Not too much expectations after a hard week and tired legs, but felt pretty strongly I was back to sub 19 5K shape after Thursday's hard workout. Top 5 male and females got cash prizes, and there were some cool attendance prizes like a 32" LCD TV. Got there early with Pat, Crystal, Megan (late addition to our group per Crystal's cajoling) to register, then warmed up on the first couple miles of the course. Many turns, very hilly, legs felt very tired and not good. C led us out in 7:59, 7:52, so felt a little better as to why I felt tired. Saw O'Connor and Gabe, and did drills and stretching before the race start. 5 minutes before, totally remembered that I forgot my inhaler so sped back to the car to get a few puffs. Shot of adrenaline, and was ready to go! First mile, ran with Crystal and Gabe and cruised through the many turns around Soulard. Felt pretty good surprisingly, and was holding on ok. Caught a nice long hill on the 2nd mile, and cruised down it as a gap opened up between Crystal, Gabe, and I. Was 5th male at this point, with a guy roughly 5-10 seconds behind. Hit the 2nd mile with a great split, and was feeling ok before we started up a long slow hill which didn't seem to end. More turns, headed towards the Brewery, and I made it a point to surge hard on these turns to try to lose the guy chasing me. Halfway through the 2nd mile, had opened up a considerable gap and realized I was closing in on Gabe. Started working towards him, but was running out of time and my legs were pretty shot from the uphill last mile. Cruised on in - a little aggravated that I didn't break 18:50, but just nitpicking at this point. 1 mile cooldown solo, then 2 miles with Gabe. 5K splits were: 6:07 (my split was called at 5:56, so my Garmin was off a little - updated firmware FINALLY at night), 5:59, 6:23 (straight uphill). Very happy with this race, definitely showing some progress in training. Crystal and I were both pretty thrilled at hitting good times with dead legs and hot and hilly conditions, so celebrated at Pi afterwards with Pat and Megan :) Big River Dominance at this race - O'Connor won overall and set a course record, Gabe 3rd male, me 4th (and $35 prize!), Crystal 3rd overall female (6th place overall in 18:35), and Megan won the t.v.! Welcome back to the sub 19 minute 5K club, me!

Sunday, August 28 - 14 miles (1:49:59). Forest Park run with Pat, Crystal, Mike, Megan, and I. Gorgeous morning for a run (60's and sunny, not humid), and had a decent showing of people out there. Had talked about doing arch run, but the group was doing the Clayton loop so tacked on some extra and joined the others. Harry joined Mike, C, and I and we looped around the park before running through Clayton. Hilly, and legs felt tired at first but never got any worse. Kept yelling to slow down, but no one listened and we just cruised through the run. Last 9 miles, definitely got faster and faster but felt exactly the same. Intended 9 minute/mile pace run became 7:51 minute/mile. Forgot how hilly STL could be, but definitely happy with this run. Splits were: 7:58, 8:01, 7:55, 8:10, 8:03, 8:05, 7:52, 7:53, 7:47, 7:42, 7:38, 7:40, 7:47, 7:27. 51 miles this week - great week!

Easier week this week with travel week (D.C. for Shane's wedding). Will do a workout tomorrow night to make up for last Tuesday, but cruising with easy mileage the rest of the time. Definitely going to enjoy it!