Illinois Marathon 10K Recap

Payton Jordan Cardinal Invite Recap for Men, for Women, and Lopez Lomong gets away with one.

Wednesday, April 25th - 6 miles.  Ran solo on the trails and looped around town.  Legs were complete garbage, and could barely function.  9:20 min/mile average pace.

Thursday, April 26th - 4 miles.  Joined Crystal after her drills and strides, and ran around town.  Don't remember time, but kept it low-mid 8's.  Felt better, but legs were still putty.

Friday, April 27th - 2.5 miles.  Ran easy before we took off for Champaign.  Spent some quality time with the foam roller, as well.  Drove up to Champaign, hit up the expo and a quick dinner at Applebees, then got settled into the hotel nice and early.  A lot colder in central Illinois than home, and praying for no rain on Sat. (per weather reports).

Saturday, April 28th - 22 miles (yes, you read that correctly): 2 up, ILLINOIS MARATHON 10K (39:35 PR; 8/2221 overall, 2/104 age group), 14 down).  Woke up bright and early to some nasty rain, and headed to the course.  Relatively light traffic to the race, but took a little bit to get to the parking lot (Assembly Hall).
Walked over to Assembly Hall and met up with Colby (running his debut marathon), and Gibbs (running the 1/2 marathon, paced by Crystal).  The 10K started roughly 45 minutes after the marathon start, so I was going to take my time to change and get warmed up since we were parked close by.  Weather was starting to get a little better since the rain was letting up, but it was a bit windy and cool (40's).

Walked everyone to the start, before heading off to the parking lot of find the car so I could change and get ready (no gear check for 10Kers).  Only I couldn't find the car, and frantically searched for a good 25 minutes, running up and down the aisles!  So obviously panic had settled in, and thoughts of not being able to run the race because of all the crap I was carrying seeped into my head.  So at 7:15 (15 minutes before start of the race), decided to attempt to check in my bag and pray that the organizers/volunteers would hear my pleas.  I summoned up all the charm I had, and thankfully the crew took my bag and I rushed off to get a quick 10 minute warmup.  Lined up in the corral, did some dynamic stretching before starting off.  Went out with a group of 10 or so, and went out fast the first mile before settling into pace and falling off the lead pack.  Literally was running by myself for the last 5 miles, and into this nuisance of a wind which was swirling.  Between miles 2 and 3, caught a younger kid who had gone out hard with the lead group.  Felt kind of bad, since he was looking over his shoulder every 10 seconds as I was rapidly closing in on him, and tried to encourage him to keep up but he was literally out of my sight by the 3rd mile.  Got locked in, picked off a couple more people down the stretch, then coasted towards the finish.  Last mile, you work back into campus and towards Memorial Stadium.  There is this annoying U-Turn towards the end, before heading onto the field and towards the 50 yard line, where the finish is.  Super cool finish, and definitely one of my more favorites I have ever done.  Very pleased about the race - executed the plan perfectly, technically PRed, and felt pretty good the entire way without expending too much energy.  Stretched out on the field, ran into Mike Kettler who had finished the half marathon (1:19 despite multiple walk breaks), then hung around to watch Gibbs and Crystal finish before heading back to the car and changing so I could get ready to run Megan in.

Of course, Pat finds the car immediately, so change and head out towards 1st and Green St, which was right at the halfway point of the race.  Met up with Megan shortly after we got there, and weaved through downtown Champaign before heading out to the other side of town.  Glad I made it out there earlier than later, because the crowd was pretty sparse on the back half and the runners were so spread out that it would have been mentally brutal to run by yourself.  Megan's legs were tired, so worked on settling her into an easier pace.  Picked off quite a few runners over the next 6 miles or so, which is always a great confidence boost.  Once we got to mile 20, we started focusing a mile at a time.  Had a hill around the mile 24 mark which caused a small walk break, but Megan snapped out of it when she was passed by a runner who had passed her earlier on (Megan passed her around mile 10), so she focused all her anger/competitive drive on beating her.  Passed her shortly after, then worked on gapping her the rest of the way.  Last mile was cool, because I had literally run the same last mile in my race, so could really talk her through it.  We dipped under a bridge onto Stadium Dr. before making the turn onto First St., which was the last quarter mile or so.  Saw Pat and Crystal right before we turned into the ramp towards Memorial Stadium, and Megan started to get choked up.  I told her to enjoy every step because this is what she had worked for, and let her finish in a blaze of glory.  Welcome to the club, Megan!

An awesome part of the race is that the officials will let anyone with a bib onto the field, so was able to get back in and meet up so we could get to the car.  Got a quick brunch downtown, before heading back to the hotel for a much deserved nap.  Had dinner reservations at Destihl's, (micro-brew pub with AWESOME food) which was absolutely amazing, then headed to Old Chicago to meet up with Gibbs and Colby.  Gibbs ran very well (1:36), and Colby killed it in his debut marathon (2:57), so we had a few victory brews to celebrate!

Sunday, April 29th - 4 miles.  Drove back from Champaign in the morning, and literally crashed out all afternoon.  Legs were pretty shredded, and didn't feel good.  Did late at night, and wasn't moving too fast.  270 loop plus some change.  No watch, but guessing closer to 40 minutes total.  52 miles this week, 199 miles in April, 702.5 miles in 2012.

Successful weekend of running, and happy to be home.  Easy running all week, some track work in between, and the Triad 5K this weekend.

Champaign Eve

Abdi, Kenyan Olympic Team announced!, Jenny Simpson, and Jackie Pirtle-Hall.

So the Kenyan Olympic Team was announced.  Not overly surprised to see Kipsang (London Marathon champion last weekend) and Kurui (2 time reigning World Champion) make the team, but Moses Mosop over Geoffrey Mutai?  Mosop did finish Rotterdam in 2:05:02 on a crappy day, so a great addition to the team but I still think Kenya is making a huge mistake by not inviting Geoffrey Mutai, who I believe is the best marathoner alive.  Regardless, a stacked team, so we'll see how things pan out this summer.

Monday, April 23th - 4.5 miles + drills and strides.  Group run with Crystal, and partial drills and strides at DuBourgh afterwards.  Kind of a pain, since there was a youth track practice going on, and they weren't too good about sharing lanes.  Legs were a bit beat, so laid off the lunges and concentrated more on the form drills and strides.  36:02 for the run portion.

Tuesday, April 24th - 9 miles (3 up, 2x2 miles tempo, 2 down).  Ran with Crystal and Sunny after work at Forest Park.  Hadn't run this nasty 2 mile loop in a while, so was definitely not looking forward to this workout.  Wanted to hit around 10K pace in a controlled workout, and not tax myself too much with the 10K coming up this weekend, so decided on 6:20-6:30 pace, depending on the conditions.  80 degrees and slightly breezy, but definitely a hot day!  Warmed up around FP, then ran an extra mile while the girls did their first rep (opted for 2x2 vs 3x2 because of race week), then jumped in.  Felt amazing on the first rep, and was definitely moving around very well but too fast.  Tucked in behind Sunny and kept clipping her feet - oops!  Intentionally scaled back the last rep, and felt ok but the 2nd mile (hiller) was tiring and had to push at the end to keep up the pace.  Slow cooldown, then hard stretching afterwards.  All in all, very pleased with this workout.  Felt controlled, and pretty strong.  2 mile splits were: 12:19 (6:10, 6:09), 12:34 (6:15, 6:19).

Lots of easy running this week, and stretching.  Making it a point to watch nutrition and get more sleep.  Leaving for Champaign on Friday morning, so more to come...

Who gets in for Kenya?

Kenyan Olympic Team?, Kipsang and Keitany win London, more opinion on the Kenyan team, Mt. Sac Relays, Ian Dobson, and a yummy meal I want to try soon.

Here is my two cents on the Men's Kenyan Olympic team to be picked.  It sounds like they are committed to Abel Kurui, 2 time defending World Champion.  So there are two more slots open, and names such as Geoffrey Mutai (Boston/NYC Marathon winner last year/2:03:02 marathoner), Moses Mosop (Boston runnerup, Chi Marathon winner last year/2:03:06 marathoner), Wilson Kipsang (just won London, 2:03:42 marathoner), Patrick Makau (Berlin Marathon winner, current world record holder), Emmanuel Mutai (London Marathon winner/2:04:40 marathoner), and those are just a few potential candidates.

Anyways, it's been long reported that the Kenyan trials committee were going to use the recent Rotterdam/Boston/London Marathons to be the defacto trials selection.  Everyone flamed out - only Kipsang held up with his 2:04:42 win last weekend in London.  Maybe too much overtraining by all with all the pressures leading up to these crazy last few weeks?  I find it hard to believe otherwise with such poor results by some of the greatest marathoners alive today.

So if it were up to me, Kenya needs to pick Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop.  In fact, they would be foolish not to.  Those two runners may be the best marathoners alive right now, and have proven themselves with some of the greatest performances ever.  Mutai won Boston and NYC with times that were, until recently, unheard of (and without pacemakers).  Mosop was runner up with Boston, and allegedly ran 2:05 and change in Chi at 80-85% on another hot day.  They are on top, and deserve to compete for the Gold in London.

Friday, April 20th - 6 miles.  Ran out of time with dinner plans with some friends, so was forced to get at it.  Ran pretty fast, and intentionally picked it up the last 2 miles to give myself an extra few minutes to stretch before leaving.  Felt like complete crap too, and wasn't a happy camper overall.  Out and back towards Troy, blah.  Didn't have total time, but last 4 miles were in 27:52, I believe (6:59, 6:14 last 2 miles).  At night, went to Niche, which is a restaurant I was wanting to try in Soulard.  We ended up ordering the Chef's Tasting Menu (and wine pairing), which was fabulous.  Definitely some other stuff on the menu that I would like to try, next time I go.  In the process, ended up spending more than I ever have on dinner.  Looks like PB&J and bananas for the rest of this week...

Saturday, April 21st - 6 miles.  Solo 6 towards Home Depot on the trail. Gorgeous day to run - sunny and 50's, so felt like a million bucks.  Intentionally wanted to keep it slow, but failed miserably on that endeavor upon further inspection of my splits.  In fact, negative split every mile.  Probably should have monitored my Garmin better, but was going completely by feel.  45:17 overall.

Sunday, April 22nd - 9 miles.  Scheduled long run, but once again was running uber late for my afternoon plans and only got in 9.  Ran with Crystal, out and back towards Troy.  Really windy and cool, but felt decent for the most part.  Coming in, ran completely into the wind, which was a pain in the butt.  Hit the 9 miles in 1:12:18, then ran home to shower and head downtown to see Daniel Lee perform with the St. Louis Symphony.  Lee is the principal cellist of the SLSO, and was absolutely amazing to see!  Makes me miss playing so much, and I wish I could get back into it someday!  46 miles this week, 147 miles in April, 650.5 miles in 2012.

Solid few weeks I have put up, which I'm pretty pleased with.  Off to Champaign this weekend for Megan's first marathon, and my participation in the 10K.  No big goals - planning on running basically a hard tempo, and would like to run sub 40.  Signed up for a couple local 5K's coming up in May, as I continue on my quest to race myself back into shape!

Less than 100 days till London!

If this doesn't get you pumped up for the Olympics, I'm not sure what will.  London this weekend, doubters for Paula, GREAT read on Desi, Mutai ready to defend his London crown, the story of Glenn Randall (dude who led the Boston Marathon for the first 5K), Jason Hartmann, Boston is over, more London, debates over the records, Centro, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher.

A really cool part of the Centro article as well - thought the Washington Post did a fascinating job setting this up.

Tuesday, April 17th - 6 miles.  Out and back with Pat and Crystal on Home Depot route.  Felt like crap starting out, but had our typical negative split run as usual.  I don't remember time exactly, but averaged 8:20 overall, I think?  Stomach was a wreck - need to stop eating Thai food before runs.

Wednesday, April 18th - 7 miles (2 up, 4x1000 meters, 2 down).  Track work with Mike on a relatively nice evening.  Crystal joined us for her drills, as we got into it.  Goal was to hit 5:50ish mile pace for all the reps.  3 minutes rest, so got at it pretty hard.  Got out fast on the first one, and pretty much suffered through the final reps.  Not a good day for me, but the split times were ok.  Should have been an easy workout, as this is my mile split time with shorter reps, longer rest.  Coach Crystal thinks I should not do my second workout this week (collective fatigue from a month straight of racing).  I agree.  Splits were: 3:35, 3:38, 3:38, 3:41.

Thursday, April 19th - 7 miles.  Got dragged out bright and early by Brad to do mileage.  Met him at the SIUE track, and we ran a loop around SIUE trails before finishing up on the track for a little bit of running and some strides.  Legs felt like complete garbage, probably from not having much time to recover from last night's workout and a little quicker pace than I would have liked for recovery.  Ran on the infield of the track for the last mile, which was really easy on the legs.  53 minutes for 7 miles.

Legs are garbage right now.  Easy running the rest of this week.  Next scheduled workout is with Crystal at Forest Park at our favorite 2 mile death loop which we haven't visited since last spring.  2x2 miles.  I know it's going to be bad, if I'm already dreading this workout 5 days early!

Boston!

What your mind says in the marathon, Boston recap, US immigration is a pain, more Boston, will Mutai make the Kenyan Olympic Team?, Haile's last track meet coming up, Boston deferrals for next year - the true story, Jason Hartmann - top American in Boston, Rotterdam Marathon Recap, Wesley Korir, Jackie Pirtle-Hall wins STL Marathon, 1/2 marathon recap at STL, and a sad followup on the life of Sammy Wanjiru.

Sooooo many articles to go through that I wanted to share, so a quick post for today. But I digress, with a scary little story this morning. I was at a complete stop on westbound I-270 near Granite City/Pontoon Beach headed towards work, when I saw a car rapidly coming behind mewho hadn't realized I had been stopped. Well, he slammed on his brakes, the guy behind him must have not noticed and collided with him. In the 1.2 seconds I had to react, realized that they were going to slam into me so zoomed into the next lane and narrowly missed being part of that accident. If I were a betting man, the idiots were probably on their cell phones and not paying attention. Don't think anyone was hurt, but still a lesson to be learned: Pay attention to the other cards, idiots.

Monday, April 16th - 5 miles + drills. Nice and easy with Pat and Crystal - out and back to the track. This was Pat's return to running since his freak garden tool incident, so was nice to get out on a nice evening. Legs felt pretty crappy, but got easier as we moved along. 43:27 I think total.

Easy run today. Scheduled track work, but pushing everything back a day to give my legs another rest day. Looks perfect outside, so looking forward to getting out there after work!

GO! STL Marathon Relay Recap

Boston Marathon cheat sheet, BAA 5K records, Haile beats Paula, 2012 Boston, and historic Boston Marathon moments.

Friday, April 13th - 4 miles. Ran solo after work - 270 loop and some change. Nice and slow, don't remember time.

Saturday, April 14th - 4 miles. Ran around STL while I was there. The torrential rain didn't make it very fun. Ran downtown and felt ok but legs were a little tired for some reason. Worked the foam roller and the stick like no other to get loosened up.

Sunday, April 15th - ~13 miles. GO! STL Marathon Relay (2:53:21 - 2nd overall, 1st Coed Division). Great time with Gabe, Mike, and Crystal! We organized this race with the intent to compete for the win, but mainly have fun which was achieved. Woke up bright and early (early yes, still dark though when we left at 5:30 a.m.), then drove over to Crystal's house but saw all the lights were off, so assumed she had already left. Anyways, had this nagging feeling that something was wrong, but kept going - called her cell phone to find out where she was at, but no answer. Finally when we got downtown and parked at 6:15 a.m., Megan told me to call the house (didn't want to wake up Pat, but something clearly wasn't right), so decided to anyways just in case. Well, she answered the phone (groggily, might I add), and suddenly realized the situation. Meanwhile, grouped the team together and strategized since it looked like we weren't going to make the 7 a.m. start time. Anyways, 20 minutes later, got a phone call from Crystal saying she was already downtown but was having problems with the street closures, so I ran about 6 blocks over to meet her since she had all the bibs and timing chip, then ran back to get bibs on everyone and the chip to Gabe so he could get start on time. 6:50 a.m., she is in the team tent and ready to go. Not sure what was more impressive - our race which was solid, or Crystal getting up, ready, eating breakfast, driving to STL going 95 mph, finding parking downtown on a crowded marathon day, and into our tent all in under 30 minutes!

Gabe got into the corral with no problems, so headed over to the first relay point which was about 4 blocks from the start. Got situated, while Mike and Crystal headed to Crystal's relay point over in Forest Park. Sat around and stretched, while noticing the 20 mph winds and already pretty humid morning (60-70 degrees at race start). The first relay point was pretty packed with people and basically a circus with all the teams (500 teams overall) and all their friends and family standing with us, so tried to get in position where Gabe and I could see each other as he passed through. He came in 5th place, so took the timing chip and headed towards Olive feeling pretty good. Started the climb up, and worked my way west towards Forest Park. Got up the first huge hill where it leveled out, but then saw there was a bigger climb coming up so got caught by a small pack and started working with them. Got passed by a couple relay runners by this point, so was trying to hang on. Finally reached the top, where we turned on Vandeventer and onto Forest Park Parkway, before the half marathoners turned off. From this point forward, was very lonely out there with minimal spectators and no one to run with. Got passed by a marathoner, but would catch up to him later on. Worked my way up a ramp before turning into the park, and my legs were just tired from running hills and into the wind for the last half hour. Was starting to feel a little despondent from some bad splits and the upcoming FP hills, when I saw 3 relay guys not that far up front. Immediately snapped back into focus, and started working on reeling them in. Hit another big hill going up Wells, and concentrated on conserving some energy on the back stretch of my route. Caught the team that was leading earlier, then caught up to another guy before hitting the stretch where I'd hand off to Crystal. Had one last burst to get 4th place within close grasp for Crystal, then handed off right in front of the Visitor's Center.

Drank a ton of water, then jogged over to Mike's relay point which was 1-1.5 miles away. Backtracked through the course a bit, then got situated and started stretching out. Watched Jackie Pirtle-Hall (eventual female winner and new course record holder) zoom by, and chatted with the eventual marathon relay winners to figure out where the heck we were at in the overall scheme of things. Anyways, was watching the hill leading up to the point when I saw a bright jersey headed our way. Sure enough, it was Crystal, who had blazed through her leg, arguably the most difficult leg of all. Mike snapped out of it, grabbed the timing chip, then off he went. Walked over to the Metro, then took it down to Union Station where we got off and waited for Mike to come in. Met up with Gabe, and saw Jackie finish for the win, then saw the overall Marathon Relay Winners take off. After about 10 more minutes, saw Mike working down Market towards us with no one in sight. Ran him in the last few blocks, and crossed 2nd overall! Pretty cool feeling to make it through, and a lot of fun to cross the finish line together with the team. Cooled down with Crystal afterwards, then hung out for awhile and caught up with some of the other runners. 44 miles this week, 101 miles in April, 604.5 miles in 2012.

The relay was a blast, and ran ok for the most part but definitely some work to be done. Easy run and drills tonight, then watch the Boston Marathon replay and its thrilling conclusion!

GO! STL Marathon Weekend and Boston Marathon Weekend!

The Kenyan Army of Destruction, Mosop goes for the world record, Terry Shea and Boston, heck of a 5K at the Stanford Invitational, Paula shooting for Gold now, not many elite Americans in Boston this year, the official Boston elite field (minus Tolo who just pulled out), more Mosop, awesome read on Adam Goucher, and Geoffrey Mutai comes back to defend his world's best.

Heart breaking not to be running on Boyleston this weekend, but will be working on my own end a the GO! STL Marathon relay with Crystal, Mike, and Gabe for the relay. Looking to do some work, so we'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, April 11th - 7 miles (1 up, 4 miles tempo, 2 down). Met up with the training team in Forest Park on a gorgeous evening. Crystal talked me into doing some of her workout, so she, Matty D, and I went out and did an out and back from the Visitor's Center. Only wanted to do 4 miles (she was wanting to do 6 at tempo), since we were racing on the weekend and wanted to not push too hard. Ran on the soft trails, but had some issues with gripping on the surface. Let them go about 2.3 into the run, then ran back to the 2 mile mark/water station and waited for them to come back so I could run the last 2 miles in with them. Not surprisingly, the pace picked up a bit, and worked pretty hard coming in. Stretched for quite a while, but was overall happy with the work. Legs felt like garbage though, and my IT bands felt like stiff boards which restricted any stride I had. Hello foam roller! Splits were: 6:31, 6:24, 6:17, 6:15.

Thursday, April 12th - 6 miles. Ran with Mike and Crystal after work. Pre race strategy during our out and back on Old Faithful. Legs felt a bit better (after some excruciating foam rolling earlier), and we kept it pretty slow. One of those runs that seemed to take longer than it should, but was nice to knock it out. 53:40 total.

So I'm running the 2nd leg of the relay. We are shooting for the win (should be close according to the last few year's winning times), so I need to not blow up on my leg which is the longest and pretty hilly. Targeting 6:30 pace, but will keep it relatively conservative for the first couple miles as I work up Olive. But looking forward to some good team camaraderie, as we have a solid group that should run a solid time on Sunday. Good luck to all runners!

Butt Muscles

Geoffrey Mutai defends in Boston, Duel in the Sun, Paula will be ok with bronze in London, Boston entry process, and bandit racing.

Wednesday, April 4th - 6.5 miles (1.5 up, 4 mile tempo, 1 down). Nice day to get outside, so met up with Mike and Crystal at the track to do a workout. Crystal had mileage and drills, so kept her company towards the end and she did us a huge favor by calling out splits. Jogged our normal warmup, then headed a little further out to a local neighborhood that had a half mile loop. Ran the last mile and a half on the track. Anyways, weather was good and a bit of a breeze. Started out a little quick, but got into a great rhythm and finished strong. A good confidence booster, especially with the marathon relay coming up. 4 mile tempo: 25:37 (6:22, 6:29, 6:20, 6:12).

Thursday, April 5th - 6 miles easy. I might have gotten this switched with Wednesday's workout, but don't remember.

Friday, April 6th - 5 miles. Ran to Crystal's parent's house and back and did an additional mile around the neighborhood. Perfect to run outside - legs were poopy though.

Saturday, April 7th - 13 miles. Megan had her 20 miler, so decided to meet her part way out and run her in. Crystal did 2 with me on Old Faithful, before I continued on. Didn't really feel too hot, and was definitely struggling - didn't make it easier that I was dropping pace every mile, so by the time Megan and I met up I was down to 7:20's. Ran her in at a little faster than her marathon pace, and was happy to get through a long run and help her out as well. Don't remember total time, but averaged 7:40's going out and 10:50's coming in.

Sunday, April 8th - 5 miles. 2 easy with Crystal in her neighborhood, 3 solo. Legs felt like poop and my knee was bothering me, but what's new? 45 miles this week, 57 miles in April, 560.5 miles in 2012.

Monday, April 9th - 4 miles + drills and strides. Ran with Crystal and Tim during the Big River group run. Perfect running weather outside. Crystal showed us some new drills that would fire our glute (butt muscles). Felt like complete crap on the drills and strides. 36:24 total running which was a little more than 4 miles.

Tuesday, April 10th - 6 miles. Out and back towards Home Depot. My butt muscles were on fire from the 8 reps I did, which means I have clearly never used my butt muscles before. Yes, insert all the bad jokes here. Windy outside and cool. Strapped on the ipod, and got lost in catching up on sports talk radio. Felt pretty good outside, but made the mistake of checking time halfway through, and realized I was going out waaaay too fast. Regardless, my stupid self never lets me slow down, so finished it out, albeit I still felt fine and was going downwind coming home. 44:02 total, negative split every mile.

Forest Park tempo with Crystal tonight. Easy running the rest of the week until the marathon relay. Crystal, Mike, Gabe, and I are running the GO! St. Louis Marathon Relay this weekend, so working out all the details before making a run at this thing.

Cherry Blossum 10 Mile Recap

58:47 in Prague, Cherry Blossum, How to Taper like a pro, Adbi, and Lagat, Hall, Meb, and Adbi to run the Healthy Kidney 10K, Sam Adams Marathon Brew, and the 45 bars in Boston that will serve it.

Back from a very fun weekend from D.C., so let's get right into it:

Thursday, March 29th - 0! Travel Day plus rest needed. Got in to D.C. in the evening, and hung out downtown. Ella's never fails to disappoint :)

Friday, March 30th - 4 miles. This is semi misleading, as there was some running but we had to have walked a good 10 miles around town. Regardless, a chill day, and was all over D.C. hitting up various pubs, restaurants, and had a blast! Tried out a new area (H-Street district), which used to be the hood, but is trying to get cleaned up. A legendary mega Jenga duel ensued between Josh, Shane, and I and many, many holes of mini golf at H Street Country Club!

Saturday, March 31st - 0! Packet pickup day, and general rest. Ran into Bill Rodgers at the expo - I see that guy everywhere! Laid low all day, and did some heavy stretching.

140.5 miles in March - ugh

Sunday, April 1st - 12 miles (1 up, Cherry Blossum 10 Miler (1:05:54 PR), 1 down). Woke up nice and early for the race. Shane lives about 1.5 miles from the start, so warmed up as we headed towards the race. Perfect running weather - 40's and overcast. Started and finished at the Washington Monument, so checked in our bags and headed to our corral. The corral was packed full of people, and worked out way up as much as possible. Joked with Shane that it would be a miracle to hit 7:15 on the first mile with as much congestion as there was. Shane warned me that the opening stretch was narrow, so kept that in mind as we got started. Weaved as much as I could to get past all the slower people (why do slow people insist on lining up so far to the front???), and it was a ridiculous waste of energy as well as time since I was zigzagging all over to establish position. Eventually got out there, and realized I hadn't started my watch. Great. Time goals were out the window anyways with my dead legs, so made it a goal to run this race by feel and be in control, unlike a lot of my previous races where I would fizzle midrace.

Cherry Blossum weaves around the city and through the monuments, so plenty of scenary. Relatively fast - there are a few hills and some bridges, but for the most part flat. Kept a great rhythm throughout the race, and found a girl that was going about my pace and keyed off of her. Looked at my watch at 3 different point - the first mile split, 5K, and 10K split. All seemed to be within range, so was pleased. About mile 8, started to feel tired, and lost ground on the girl I was running with (turns out that she sped up, I wasn't slowing down as I feared). Worked out this shirtless guy, who had been running with us almost the entire race. Last mile, had to grind it out a bit, then kicked when I saw the finish approaching. Had no idea what my time was until later that night (with starting my watch late), but relatively certain I PRed which was confirmed later. The beginning cost me some time, but I was pretty ecstatic with my race - mile splits were all close together, and I executed the race plan exactly. Finished 419/~17,000, so not too shabby. Spent the rest of the day hanging out with Shane and Josh in Arlington, VA then back in D.C., then sadly headed back home at night.

33.5 miles this week, 12 miles for April, 503.5 miles for 2012.

Monday, April 2nd - 5 miles. Ran at home with Crystal after work. 90 degrees at home - just ridiculous. Legs were dead, so was gutting it out. Ran to the track and back, and opted out of drills and strides and instead worked on heavy stretching. Much better on the way back, but tired nonetheless. 43:04 total.

Tuesday, April 3rd - 6.5 miles. Ran with Timmy in Forest Park after work. Opted out of 800 meter repeats and decided on an easy run. Did the standard loop (the long way), and got caught in a few rain storms throughout the run. The bugs were a bit ridiculous around the lake, and inhaled a good 10 of them - ugh. Legs were uber-sore still, and my knee was acting up but sadly starting to get used to it. 52:54 total.

Finally a weekend of rest! I have a scheduled workout coming up on Thursday, but keeping it slow otherwise. GO! STL Marathon relay next weekend, so slowly getting my legs ready for a strong run through STL!