Happy Friday! I think

I would like to start by sending good thoughts and energy out to two friends who have fathers that are not doing well right now.

I ran on Sunday the 4th (sorry, I've been busy this week) and managed to pull of a PR.  Not bad for not having run for over a month.  Talk about a taper.

The weather drones couldn't figure out if it was going to be warm and raining or cold.  So the first thing I did was check the temp when I got up.  Right about 40, so a long sleeved shirt would be good.  I put a tech shirt on under my race shirt as I just can't see running in cotton shirts as a good idea anymore.  I had added a few bells to my shirt the night before so I would be plenty jingly when I ran.  Seven down each arm was going to provide plenty of warning that I was coming up behind someone.  I had also pinned nine to each side of my shorts.  It was just cool enough for tights so on they went under my shorts and I was headed to Portland.

I got there around 8:00 since the race this year was much later than last year's event, so I had time to walk around get in some stretches, find an interesting new ache in my left ankle that I will have to investigate further, and ran a few warm up "laps" to see how the foot felt.  I figured it would either REALLY bug me or it would go away, so I joined the herd of people in the middle of the pack at the 8-9 minute pace grouping.  I was planning on going until I didn't have anything to go with.  Clearly there were many people who had no idea what "Pace Groups" are for and when the horn sounded there were many start-stops and quick shifts of position to avoid stepping on people.

As we thinned out and got into a comfortable groove, I was still having to work around people and to make sure that others who were running faster from the back, again they WERE holding signs and telling people to figure out where they belonged before the start, could get around me.  I was hurting a bit, but that was no running for a month and not my ankle.  All was good, just a little carbon in the engine. 

Just about the mile mark I was thinking that we should start seeing the really super cool fast people coming back and sure enough there they were.  A bunch of guys flying along, and then comes this gal with short blondish hair pulled back in a ponytail.  Hmm, were her eyes closed?  That has to be ghhrfy from the Loop.  I checked when I got finished, and, yup, there was Liz listed at the top of the list for the women.  Dang the girl is fast.  So after my far brush with greatness, I focused on my run.

I got to the turn-around and hooked my arm on the barrel to make the corner.  I hate sharp turn-arounds I feel like I'm going to fall over.  Back up the road I trundled, I had my iPod on, but didn't hit it once to find out how long I had been running.  I could barely hear the music either, so other than comfort it wasn't really much used in this one.  Hmm, I might try that sometime on a training run, start it but turn the volume off and just run.  So I wasn't sure as to how fast or slow I was running.

A little after the two mile marker, I was feeling gassed and had to shift a little to get out of the small group I was in so I could down-shift.  I refuse to walk, I might run at a REALLY slow pace, but I ain't walkin'!  And that is what I did for a big chunk of mile two.  When I rounded the corner and could see the finish banner I was trying to decide if I could push faster to the end or not.  When I saw the three mile marker and knew that it wasn't that much further, I kicked it back into gear and trucked up the road to the finish.  When I crossed the line, I was close to wanting to fall over.  I was done, I walked around a bit after taking off my chip, and then remembered to kill the iPod time.

This race has become my marker for the start of the training cycle for the year, Shamrock is a little over three months away, and I want to make a good showing at the 15K.  So, now we train.  On the upside, I beat last year's time by about 11 minutes.  27:21.4 was my official chip time this year.  Last year was 38:05, so at this rate, next year I will be running with Liz. Ha ha ha ha!  I kill myself.

Have a good weekend, and here is to the Steelers beating the Bungles.