5:40 first mile. Felt fast, first mile always is, but not difficult. I looked up and saw people I didn’t think I should be running with, so I consciously pulled back and slowed down a bit. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Should have been more confident. 5:40 is not too far off what I wanted to run, so I could have just went with it.
Feeling labored during mile two. 5:56. Sixteen second drop off. Boo. Thoughts: “try to have fun … enjoy the experience.” Mile three hurt, but not like the same stretch of road during the Cap10. 5:59. Double boo. I kept telling myself, “sure it hurts, but it will be over, just keep pushing.” I thought I was picking up the pace. Guess not. It was also during this mile that I saw a guy getting CPR and tried to think good thoughts for him. Mile three clock said 17:40 I think, and in my marbled mind I thought “I can break 18!” Yeah, with a world record 200 yard finish. I was perplexed when I neared the finish and saw 18:10…11…
18:12. I really wanted to break 18 and thought I had a good shot at doing so right up until the finish, so I was a little disappointed, though on the whole I was pleased with the experience. Perfect weather, perfect course, perfect day to run a PR (which I did), though I went home from work sick on Friday and felt pretty crappy most of the weekend.
But I said after Cap10, “no whining”, so I’m not going to whine. I ran what I ran. I actually felt pretty good about it until today when G got sort of a disappointed look on his face and said “you should be seventeens”. It made me want to do two things: quit, then go for a long, fast run between a gym and a health food store.
All told, including warm-up and cool-down, I ran about 7.5 miles. Then in the afternoon I jogged 6.5 with Jessica, so it turned into a 14 mile day. I took today off, so it’s all even and my battleship soldiers on.
In other news, last week was our 8th anniversary and we went to the Killers concert on Friday night at the Erwin Center. I overpaid for some tickets off Craigslist, but it was way worth it, if only because it made Jessica so happy. I never go to concerts (last one was Willie Nelson at Stubb’s 7 years ago), and don’t even particularly like music (I usually drive in silence), but this, as they say in the vernacular, rocked.
We bought Elijah some of those old-school checkered Vans. We bought them at Nordstrom’s though, so it doesn’t really seem legit. I never was cool or confident enough to wear Vans as a kid. We asked Elijah who the coolest kid in his class is and he had to think “Well, maybe Declan….” We asked Joshua who the coolest kid in his school is, and he said without hesitation, “Me. Backwards hat. Sunglasses. Cool shoes.” They couldn’t be more different. They both have a little bit of me and I a little bit of them. Rock on.
The Killers rocked! That was the best night I’ve had in a long time. DV rocks. I predict a 17 in your near future. Shhh…don’t mention the Maze anymore to G.
I’m pretty sure you’ll be sub-18 soon as well (though it might not be until after the summer due to circumstances beyond your control). Keep in mind that, in addition to not being fully healthy, you’re probably still figuring out how to run this race. (I know I am.) And I’m sure Gilbert was not disappointed — after all, look how far you’ve come — he’s just trying to keep you motivated.
By any measure, I think you ran a great race.
I like where this 14.5 mile day is heading. Nice. And nice time at the Bun. So the second mile….labored…. does that mean hard or “if I keep this up I’ll be jogging in the last 1/2 mile?”
Dude, if the first mile feels “not difficult” in a 5k you got to start moving on some people. You know that just holding the same pace is going to feel a lot harder than it did the first mile, even if you’re feeling “good”. Now, if the first mile is easy but suddenly in the second mile you feel deathly tired, it might mean that you did not do a proper warmup or that you are out of shape. I don’t think you are out of shape. What kind of warmup did you do?
You might be able to do 5:30s for 5K now but I bet if you build a base (the battleship) and then sequence through the yada yada yada yada, you could easily do 5:30s.
You’re still running fast no matter. under 6 min is great. Congrats. and Congrats on still being able to r&roll in your 30s.