Healing

Adam MacDowell in Boston, Boston, Women's race, Shalane, more Shalane, London Marathon recap, Paula and her untouchable record, and the Boston runners/spectators from the moment of the first bomb.

Woke up pretty early on Sunday morning (3 a.m.) to watch the Lonfdon Marathon.  Looked like a good day to run weatherwise, and the pacers were instructed to take the pack out in 1:01:30 in attempts of a world record.  Well, pretty much the entire pack died (including Mo Farah in my opinion, who opted out BEFORE mile 13), and Tsegaye Kebede swooped in from behind to get the kill.  Kebede is a tough runner, and very deserving champion.  Ethiopia mistakenly picked over him for their 2012 Olympic Team - he has majors titles (2 London, 1 Chicago), Olympic bling (08 bronze), and speed (2:04 in Chi).  Maybe the best out there as of right now? (he won last 2 majors)

It's been a surreal running week with all the Boston news and multiple themed runs.  On Saturday, we had our running group join us in Illinois for a group run/brunch, where we were able to talk more with Joe and Jon who had competed and ran last Monday.  In fact, Joe had missed the blasts by 7 minutes, so was even more chilling when you put that in perspective.  Nonetheless, a very fun run on a perfect day, and a great morning to spend with my running family.  Thanks Pat and Crystal for hosting!  On Monday, Big River did their Boston run - caught up with Colby and Heidi (both Boston competitors), and honored the Boston (and runners) community with a moment of silence and run.  I think everyone's hearts have been heavy, but there has been some resolution with the terrorists being caught and we can now start the healing process.

Thursday, April 18th - 4.5 miles.  Ran with Kyle in Tower Grove Park after work.  Legs were a little pooped, but the weather was cool and slightly windy which is what I prefer minus the wind.  Looped the park and a little extra (Kyle was doing packet pickup for a race, so met him about a quarter mile from the park, which we ran to).  Felt pretty good at the end, and we breezed through the run.  35 minutes overall.

Friday, April 19th - ~7 miles (2 up, 10 x 1 minute hard at mile pace, 1 minute easy).  WINDY day at home - went to track with Crystal after work to hit our respective workouts.  Plan was to hit the minute hard at mile repeat (5:05-5:15 pace), so wanted to use the track and the 100 meter split points to help aid my workout.  Well, the 25 mph winds weren't in the plan, and wreaked some havoc.  To make a long story short, my repeats were all over the map, and based on splits points I think I ran anywhere from 4:50-5:20 pace.  Helped sort of pace Crystal through a couple of her reps (1K repeats), but did a bad job because the wind was so strong.  The cooldown was ridiculous, because we were getting blown around by the wind!

Saturday, April 20th - 7 miles - Illinois run with the Wolfpack (our STL running group).  Absolutely beautiful morning to run, and glad to do so with some good friends.  Out and back on Old Faithful, and planned on only a few easy miles but got talked into a lot more.  Ran with Jon and Ryan, who had both ran Boston, and had some pretty awesome conversation about their experiences.  58:09 total.

Sunday, April 21st - 10 miles.  Solo on the roads/trails, then did fast finish with Crystal.  Plan was to hit 6:30 pace for the last 2 miles, but I'm sure you know where this is heading.  Legs were tired starting up, and initially wanted to go easy but thought it would be easier to go a little faster instead of dropping 2+ minutes per mile.  So geared down to low 7's, and actually felt pretty comfortable.  Looped around the neighborhood, then the trail.  Met up with Crystal, ran a mile in her neighborhood for her warmup, then blasted through the last 2 miles.  Wanted to keep the first mile "slower" but felt very comfortable and despite numerous efforts to slow down, we were fast and even faster on the second mile with Crystal completely taking off and me hanging back, thinking about next Tuesday's workout.  Felt very pleased with the effort, and definitely some good vibes headed into next week.  Splits for all this vary, but averaged 7:08 for the first 5.5 miles, 6:18, 6:06 for the fast finish (oops).  52.5 miles this week, 124.5 miles in April, 647.5 miles in 2013.  Solid week for once!

Monday, April 22nd - 3.5 miles.  BRR run.  Ran with Tim, Craig, Mike, Justin, and Dickson.  Nice and easy, ran around South City.  Legs were definitely a bit tired though.

One more workout to go, then Champaign relay this weekend!