Mo Cowbell Recap

Cool paceband idea, great finish line images of Twin Cities Marathon, 11 year old girl wins 5K, Paula's marathon record longetivity, Geoffrey Mutai gunning for NYC record, and how long can you keep up with the Wilson Kipsang?

Friday, October 4th - 6 miles.  Recovery run.  I don't remember this at all.

Saturday, October 5th - 4 miles.  Nice and easy in the morning before the parents came into visit for the day.  Legs were a little tired but feeling relaxed.  Played golf with the parents at Gateway National and beat the rain to get in a fun round, then a nice dinner at Andria's Steakhouse in town.  Great to have family in town!

Sunday, October 6th - 15 miles.  Well, there isn't much to say other than look at the picture.  Drove to downtown St. Charles and got situated down at the course.  Was a pretty cool morning, as the temps dropped to low 50's from the 80's it was in.  Met up with Colby and Jon, and warmed up before stretching and getting loosened up.  We started, and I ran with Jon and Silker who were both doing the marathon at my half marathon pace.  Felt pretty comfortable working with them for the first couple miles, but could feel my body start to tighten and my stride start to shorten.  Well, they gapped me a little at the 2.25 mile water stop, and I tried to get comfortable but was really tightening up.  Split 20:30 for the 5K, and was getting progressively further off my splits and progressively uncomfortable as the miles picked up.  Contemplated a DNF around mile 5, but we were so far away from the start/finish area that I would have had to run 5 miles back so kept going.  So kept at it and tried to adjust, and split 42:40 for the 10K and maybe salvage something.  But it became pretty evident that it wasn't going to happen today, and consequently the last 8 miles of this race was one of the most painful death marches I've had in quite a while.  My back was spasming the last 5K, and my quads/hammies were destroyed from running flat footed to compensate.  Not my day, but congrats to Silker and Jon for their 1-2 finish in the marathon!!!  47 miles this week, 43 miles in October, 1879.5 miles in 2013.

Monday, October 7th - 0!  Back was killing me, and was hobbling around like an old man.  Kyle and I went to the Bulls game at Scottrade Center - first time I have ever seen a professional basketball game live!

Tonight, jogging the Go! Halloween 10K course with Crystal.  Easy running until I physically feel better.  Chicago this weekend for the marathon - looking forward to some Lakeshore miles and cheering Colby and Gabe on to some great PR's!