Tempo 5/9

I decided that I would get in a 4 mile tempo this morning and it went fairly well. I ended up hitting 21:41 for the four miles with splits of 5:26, 5:28, 5:25, 5:22. I ran it completely based on how I felt without looking at my watch until I finished. I stayed fairly strong the entire time and didnt really feel to beat until the last half mile. The last half mile was kind of rough because it was straight shot so you could see the entire straight, and it was also a gradual incline which added to the difficulty.

In the grand scheme of things, I still have 17 weeks until the half marathon and since it takes me awhile to get rolling, today was not really any indication of whats to come. I plan to do this workout every few weeks as a benchmark workout, with the goal of getting down closer and closer to 20 minutes for the 4.

With warmup and cooldown, I got in a total of 8 for the morning. Im hoping to get in a second run later on and possibly a nap before that. Im fairly excited at the moment because I busted out the crock pot to throw together a little chili. This is my first time making chili, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

The Race Pt. 1

I suppose I should actually talk about the race from the past weekend since I finally found the pictures at fotojack.com. I guess they are kind of like the road race version of prettysporty. The race was a 5k in Alexandria and I ended up hitting 15:55.
From when I woke up I knew this was going to be an interesting event. My stomach was an intense amounts of pain and I knew exactly what the problem was but I did not have the time to take care of it.
Next I arrived fairly late and the line for the bus to get to the start was too long for my patience so I decided I would run to the start and I would just run in trainers. At this point my stomach is still killing me and I have to go back to my car and get in my racing gear and start my run to the start.
I was kind of nervous because I had never done the race so I didnt know the course but it turned out that everything was marked well enough that I found my way to the start fairly easily.
Of course when I get to the start the line for the bathroom was outrageous, so the stomach issue was starting to get more and more troubling. Well I decided to jog a little more and see what I could see; and low and behold a park was found. So I headed into the woods and finally took care of business.
Well that was the prerace adventure now about the race...

A Day of Rest 4/25

So I took the day off as of 5:28 p.m. I'm kind of glad I didn't decide to head out when I first got up because my foot start hurting and it got more painful as the day went on.
Its almost a good thing that I took the day off because I am way ahead of schedule. I have recently come to the conclusion that my focus for now is the Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Labor Day weekend.
The plan is to train for a top 10 finish or run 64 minutes; which is not actually all that far fetched. In Jack Daniels book my current 1500 pr is equivalent to a low 65 minute half, and I do not take my pr as correct indication of my highest fitness level. I also know that a half marathon is a completely different race from the 1500, but I have become much better as the years go by at handling the longer stuff.
I guess my outlook is based on the idea that you never know unless you give it a shot.