Back at it…

Well, it’s been a busy time around here lately.  I basically took two weeks off due to travel, social calendar, and installing replacement windows in my house. 

I was in Kansas City for Collaboration University (Lotus Sametime and Quickr) two weeks ago.  I wanted to run while I was there, but it was 97 each day with high humidity.  When I got back, my replacement windows were in, so I’ve started to install those.  The 54″ replacement window was a bear, so I was a little tired out from that.

This week has been busy, as we had Michael’s 6th birthday party this past Saturday, his birthday is this week, he’s in a wedding this weekend.   We also have the Dayton Air Show on Sunday.  Needless to say, things are crazy.

I’ve put in 7 miles so far this week, and should get to about 21 or so.  But, I’m off most of this week and next, so that will be good to get back into it.  More later….

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4th of July PR

Maureen (Mo), Victoria, Mark (Vic’s husband) and I ran thr Firecracker 5000 yesterday.  It’s a 5k in my small home town.  It’s a small race, about 500 people, although we did have a celebrity running yesterday.  Chris Collinsworth, from the ’80’s and early ’90’s Bengals, lives in our town.  I saw him at about the half way point.  It’s a very flat course, and really meant for speed.

The race started at 8:00 AM, and my goal was to run under a 28:00.  When the gun went off, I got caught up in the crowd and started off way too fast.  I also almost killed a little girl that had fallen at the start.  After the first minute or two, I checked my watch.  My plan was to run a 9:10 first mile, then a 9:00, and then try to get to at least an 8:50 for the last 1.1.  When I checked my watch, I was running a 7:15.  WAY TOO FAST!!!

I tried to slow myself down to my goal of 9:10, but couldn’t manage to get lower than an 8:45.  I hit the 1 mile mark at 8:34.  I knew it was too fast, but also was a littl pumped that I might be under a 27:00.  I saw my son’s principal coming back at me a little while later.  He was at mile 1.5 or so in about 9 minutes.  Disgusting!  When I hit the turn, which is a little bit of an uphill, I knew I was in trouble.  I had slowed a little and knew that I was going to have to dig deep or slow my pace a little.  So, I did both.  I walked about 20 seconds and felt reenergized.  When I hit mile two, right in front of my street, my time was 17:40.  I had slowed the second mile to a 9:12.  By this time, I was feeling bad.  Oxygen debt had really hit and I was having trouble keeping my pace.  As I climbed the small hill going into the final 3/4’th mile, I decided that I would make my final push when we went into the fort.

Entering the fort is a hill that drops a total of about 25 feet, but it’s over about .1 miles.  I “coasted” down the hill and then started to push.  I saw my son’s principal when I started the last half mile loop, slapped his hand and decided I could finish strong.  So, I just pushed.  I almost rolled my ankle on the last long turn, but was able to get it back.  I thought I was going to die when I saw the finish line.  I REALLY wanted to walk, but I can’t walk that close to the finish.  I ended up crossing the finish line at 27:30.  I was very happy with that.  I guess I’ll have to update my PR on the About CFKid page.  My splits were: 8:28, 9:12, 8:56, and 00:51.

I guess the Wednesday Tempo Runs are paying off.  My VDOT is now officially 34.  My goal is to get to a 40 by race day for the 2008 Flying Pig, my first full marathon.

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Fall Half Marathon

Maureen, Victoria, and I have changed the location of our Fall Half Marathon.  We were going to run the Columbus Half Marathon, but Maureen can’t run on October 21st.  So, we decided to run Indianapolis on October 20th.  It’s a very flat course, so not much of a change from Columbus.  We’ll end up going to Indy on Friday night, and taking the kids.  We’ll stay at a holidome or something with an indoor pool.  That way the kids can play while we run. 

We ran six miles today, I really felt good and probably could have gone 8 without much trouble.  But, I didn’t want to risk it before the 5k on Wednesday.  Everything feels good, except my right hip.  It’s still bothering me a little.  Vitamin-I (Ibuprofen) and ice are taking care of it alright. I’ll run four tomorrow morning, and take Tuesday off.  Wednesday I’ll just treat as a 3 minute warm-up and then a 25 minute tempo run.  I’m shooting for a 28 minute 5k.  I think that’s doable.  I’ll post again on the 4th with a race report.

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