Illinois Marathon Relay Recap

Janji thoughts from Boston, more Boston thoughts from another runner, Ben's thoughts on Boston, a day in the life of Galen Rupp/Mo Farah, Jenny dominates at Drake Relays, and Leo.

Tuesday, April 23rd - ~4 miles.  Workout at SLU with Craig.  Torrential downpours on a really ugly day, and just tried to suck it up and get it done.  Legs were absolutely destroyed about halfway through the first rep, and just tried to hang on.  5 minute break in between, then got back at it.  Had to stop a mile into the second rep for a 10-15 second breather because I was hurting really bad.  The rain was just pelting me, and it hurt to keep my eyes open.  Just ridiculous.  My cooldown was the jog back to the car, if that counts for anything.  Splits were: 8:58, 8:56

Wednesday, April 24th - 5 miles.  Ran out and back on the trail with Megan.  We ran the first mile together as a drill to get her locked into pace, then I ran the rest solo.  Averaged high 7 minute/low 8 minute pace, felt ok but definitely tired.

Thursday, April 25th - 6 miles.  Ran with Jon on an absolute perfect day outside.  Hit 46 and some change overall - felt very easy.

Friday, April 26th - 3 miles plus strides with Crystal.  Woke up early and headed to the track.  Ran on the roads, then did 4 strides at a little faster than 5K pace.  Drove up to Champaign, hit the expo, then went to Biaggis for a nice pasta dinner.  Drove over to Assembly Hall to watch Devin and Tim run the 5K - very cool to see them cross the 50 yard line at night, and congrats to Tim for a PR!

Saturday, April 27th - 10 miles.  Got up bright and early, then headed to Assembly Hall to get situated.  Bright and sunny, so wasn't sure how warm it might have gotten.  Colby was starting our team off, so left a little early to get to the exchange point, which was on the other side of town.  Warmed up with Crystal and Jon, and got ready to start my leg.  Colby flew through his portion, and we were in 2nd place behind some collegiate team.  Started hard out of the gates, but tried to get settled into a good pace.  Weaved through some neighborhoods, then ran through a park for awhile which had a lot of turns and was for the most part flat but a lot of climbs.  I started to get warm from the sun, and my legs were just pooped (zero in the tank) and was difficult to maintain pace but kept working.  The tough part was basically getting passed by a ton of people (Colby is a lot faster than me, so he had gotten in front of a lot of people who were faster than me so got caught by quite a few), so was trying to keep mentally strong.  Eventually made our way back to campus, where I felt a lot more comfortable with my surroundings and crossed the halfway point at 1:21:17, which was right where we wanted to be at.  Kicked hard the last mile, and handed off to Jon and onwards to our next relay point!  Watched Crystal start her leg, then we headed to the finish where we met up with her and ran the entire team in to finish at 2:41:00, and finish second overall!  Took a few pictures, then got back to the car to change and watch the other runners.  Colby and Jon went out to run Dickson in, who qualified for Boston by 28 seconds!!!  Ran out with Jon to run Craig in, then I went out to run Megan in, who was accompanied by Tim (who had already run the 10K, and the second half with Megan as I did last year).  She picked off a few runners on the way in, then finished with a 7 minute PR!!!  Headed out to campus for post race celebration, and had lots of conversation about the day and our respective races.  At night, went to Destihl and had the celebrations of celebrations.  Fun times, maybe a little too much fun!

Sunday, April 28th - 0!  Scheduled off.  Drove back from Champaign and slept the day/night away.  31 miles this week, 155.5 miles in April, 679 miles for 2013.  

Monday, April 29th - ~4 miles.  Ran easy with Pat and Tim at group run.  Ran pretty slow, but dropped the hammer the last half mile just to get it finished with.  Got really warm that day.  36:54 for 4.25 miles...

Tired from the hard weekend, and legs definitely need a little rest.  I hit the lower end of my goal pace, but really had to work to get it which makes me wonder if I was just tired from the hard week?  Regardless, I have nothing to be ashamed of, and definitely seeing progress in getting faster again.  Going to enjoy a down week, and regroup for my next race which looks to be the Soldier Field 10 Miler on Memorial Day weekend!