March Blizzard!

U.S. Men 2nd at World XC, future of XC, Paula's greatest marathon, is Paula done?,  Mo earning 1.1 million for pacing, Shalane, Marine Corps Marathon sells out in less than 2.5 hours!, Boston Marathon weather, Nike commercial obese kid loses weight, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher.

Friday, March 22nd - 6 miles.  Ran in Creve Couer after work since I was taking a half day to hang out with friends and watch the tourney over at Lumiere Casino.  The workout was a fartlek - 10 x (20 seconds hard, 1 minute "easy").  Coach Kyle had me running the hard portions at 800 meter/mile pace, and the 1 minute at not easy pace but still somewhat hard.  Effort was really hard, and I was pretty tired by the end of it all.  Slow cooldown, stretched hard in the grass.

Saturday, March 23rd - 6 miles.  Went to Alton to watch Megan run the Alton 1/2 Marathon and help out with the Big River crew, as well as get in my mileage.  The race started at the Argosy casino parking lot/Alton Amphitheater, and weaved around the town.  Absolutely perfect day to race, and Megan did 7 miles prerace before jumping in the half marathon to get in her first 20 miler this block.  I ran out and back on the Alton bike trail and pretty much hammered it out.  Ran the last half mile with Megan's mom who was running her first half marathon, then settled back in to help out with the race.  Cooled down a mile with my buddy Jon, who won the half marathon then after helping clean up the race, went to Fast Eddie's for a well-deserved lunch!  Average pace was 7:30ish, but definitely was negative split my miles.

Franklin playing in the snow

Sunday, March 24th - 6 miles.  Blizzard today!  How crazy is it that we go from 60 degree weather and breezy to 12" of snow!  Literally snowed all day, and made it impossible to get in any outside running so went over to Pat and Crystal's to use their treadmill.  Watched the tourney games, and attempted to get in as much as possible before my mind exploded!  Ran for ~46 minutes overall.  45 miles this week, 140 miles in March, 481 miles for 2013.

Monday, March 25th - 4 miles.  Ran after work with Megan over at Village Circle.  Easy 1 up with her, 2 miles solo around VC, then 1 mile back with her.  Not sure about pace, but we were gone for around 33-34 minutes so I probably hammered the 2 miles solo too fast as usual.  Weather was cool and windy, but the snow was already melting and the roads were very clear.

Tuesday, March 26th - 9 miles (1.5 up, 2 x 3 miles, 1.5 down).  Had this workout circled on my calendar, since I knew it would be tough and wasn't sure if I was ready for it.  Perfect day to run (cool and 40's, and a  hint of a breeze), and ran down to Village Circle for my warmup.  Goal times were 18:55-19:20 with rest in between reps.  Really had to work through the first rep, and thought there was no way in the world I would even come close to to the second rep but just hung in strong.  Actually the first 2 miles of rep 2 were by far the easiest in terms of effort - just kept making myself stay relaxed, and "fast feet" (turnover) as Coach Kyle likes to call it.  At about 2.25 miles, started to hit that wall and was using my Garmin too much to check splits and gauge how much I had left to go.  Well, was falling 5-8 seconds behind on my pace so just put my head down and grinded it out.  But success, and was very pleased with the workout albeit the effort.  Slow cooldown home, and a lot of stretching.  Splits were: 18:59 (6:18, 6:22, 6:19), 18:51 (6:18, 6:19, 6:13).

Wednesday, March 27th - 4 miles + drills.  SLU work with Craig and Crystal.  Nothing crazy to report, but my first few miles were too fast.  Drills were rushed since I was late, but made it through ok.  Group cooldown, then off for a chicken sandwich and brew at O'Shays at the Grove!

Very happy with where I'm at, and just trying to stay healthy and motivated for next weekend's race!  Easy run tonight, then fartlek tomorrow.