Well Rhett, I read your advice too late and got up and ran 4 miles this morning. I hope it doesn't cost me too much time. I really haven't been feeling good the last couple of days so I am a little worried about today performance despite this mornings run. My legs felt like they were full of lead this morning when I ran. I tried to do a couple of 200 meter striders at a fast pace but felt like I was really laboring to go fast. I may have picked up my daughters bug from staying home with her the last couple of days, I hope not. Anyway, there isn't much I can do at this point except try to eat smart and just try and relax until the race this evening.
Time: 34:00 8:30/mile
Corporate Challenge 1600 Report
Arrived at the track about an hour before the race time and got registered and then got horizontal on the stadium bleachers for about 30 minutes. About 20 minutes before the race I did some really easy jogging with 2 x 200 meter striders at a pretty fast pace. Then I planted myself near the starting line and did some light stretching. I hadn't felt very good this whole week and even up to the time of the race I felt like I had a ball of glub in my stomach. If there was ever a race where I could possibly puke, I was convinced that this could be the one. They ran the mens race in two heats by age groups. My heat had 24 runners from various age groups. I don't know who was in my age group so I just had to run as fast as I could and hope for the best. We lined up for the race and I was in lane 4 on the waterfall. The gun went off and I made my way to the inside lane as quickly as possible and tried not to get caught up in the excitement of the start. My plan for the race was to run 88's and see what happened. the first lap came in a bit fast at about 83 seconds but that was expected with the quick start. The second lap I came in about 2:53 so I was still under my 6:00 pace. The next lap came in at about 4:25 so I knew I was going to have to step it up on the last lap to get in under 6:00. I had a ton of road kill on all laps after the first and I had about 3-4 more kills on the last lap as I brought it home in 86 seconds. The wind during this race was brutal as we had a head wind on the finish line stretch for each of the 4 laps. I always wonder what could have been but I am incredibly pleased with a 5:51 and 6th place finish out of 24. I don't know the results of my age group yet so I will have to wait and see if I ended up with the gold or not. Feels good to finally get a sub 6:00, especially under these conditions.
This is the final stretch of the race and I am in pain!! | 