It is officially official now! Boston runners received their bib numbers and corral assignments this week! I am wave 1, corral 3 and bib 2165. It is gettin' real now! Only 28 more days and 14 of hard training left.
Speaking of training, I ran another 90 mile week (well 89, but close enough). I did a couple of moderately easy progression runs of 13 miles each on Tuesday and Thursday and saved my hard workout for Saturday, when I raced the USATF Championship 8k in St. Paul. I believe I stated last week that anything under 30 minutes would be acceptable; the race was not acceptable. Legs were not what they should of been, even with a very easy Friday. I can't blame the conditions, just didn't have it. Ran the first mile in 6:17, which I wasn't too concerned about, considering it goes up a decent hill and we were into the wind. I settled into mile two and according to my Garmin, I was cruising along at a 6:05 pace. Wrong! Mile two was also 6:17! Sub 30 was out of the question and now was starting to question a sub 31. I buckled down on mile 3, and cruised down some the downhills and pushed the pace. This helped and wound up with a 6:09. I started to feel better and again slightly pushed for mile 4 and a 6:07 pace. It was an out and back course and I knew at least 3 folks in my age group were ahead of me, so assuming I missed one, I figured I was in the top 5. With a half-mile to a go, a guy in my age group that I had just passed, flew by me and I knew another right behind me. I went easy up the last hill and on the last 800 meter I passed one and kept the other at bay, securing my 5th spot. I had no idea how fast I ran that last mile and was shocked to see that I ran the .96 miles in 5:35, so I think my problem may have been more mental than physical. Finished the race in 30:37.
Two weeks of hard training remain and I need to make the best of it. I will try to sneak in another race or two, just to fine tune things.
Happy Running!
Rick
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