long time coming

Still running and due to this and nature of work in the last week I've been slacking pretty heavily on my blogging duties (but then so has Mr. Farley...hhhmmm).

Anyway, I've been having solid workouts with the AU guys, got through 8 by 400 at 68 or faster with 200m rest and then 4 by 200's with no problems this week. Thats a big step up from a couple weeks ago when I died in a 400 workout with the quarters at 70.

Work has beeeeeeeeeeeeen hectic all week. Having Wade not around makes you realize how much he really does. It also shows how I'm way more focused on the computer stuff than I am on the floor stuff right now. I think its why Wade and I work pretty well together. He's good at looking at the stuff that I don't particularly want to take care of, and I do the stuff that he would rather not to do. Anyway, lets hope this running thing keeps going well.

recccaaaappppp

So I "raced" on Sunday. I put it in quotes because I never felt like I was racing. Its been awhile since I raced and it just turned into a workout type scenario for me. I just ended up staying comfortable the whole way, never felt like I was pushing it but at the same time couldn't get my legs to turn over. Ended up running 4:33 on the road, which isn't great but I did take a couple positives away from the race. First, I ran 4:33 off 4 weeks of medicore training. Second, I felt really relaxed running and am slowly creeping towards being in shape. Third, I finished in the top 3 in a race, and while the field wasn't packed with tons of elites, there were some very good guys in it and I managed to stay calm off the line.

Maybe I'm starting to do something right...

The majority of my day was spent putting future orders into the inventory system...as much fun as that sounds it did get monotonous at a certain point. I had decided not to run this morning and to get my run in this evening due to the late workout last night.

(Workout was at 8:30 last night and the plan was a fartlek starting with 4 minutes on then 3 then 2 then 1, it went alright. I ended up running about a 66 400m for the last interval and Lewis was there doing another workout so it could have been much worse)

ANYYYway, I just ran out the Custis trail and finished up my run at the W&L track. Coach was working with the Pacers Running Club. Now while these guys weren't "elite"; the group is designed to be a training group for people who are anywhere from looking to just make it through their first marathon, to people who have done a few but just want to get faster, it was great to see Coach putting as much thought into their workouts as he does into the Pacers Elite guys'. I ended up running around the track for a bit to keep warm (got about 8 miles on the day) and got a ride home with Coach and Kathy. The whole real purpose of showing up to the track was to ask Coach if he thought it would be ok if I hopped into this road mile this weekend. I don't think we were really planning on racing anytime soon and I know I'm not anywhere close to real racing shape. But I had a couple reasons for wanting to go out to this race.

1. I haven't been in a race in 4-5 months and I don't want it to be a complete shock when I do eventually start racing again.

2. I want to show the guys on the team and the guys at Pacers that I'm a team player, that I want to race for the team and that I'm all about supporting local races too ( the race is sponsored by Pacers)

3. I do happen to fall into the stereotypical "starving post-grad runner" and the fact that there happens to be a cash prize involved helps.

To my complete surprise I didn't really have to convince Coach about this idea...he just thought I should go do it, treat it like a hard training run and get a little bit of the feeling of a race experience back. I'm going to keep training through it (basically I'm doing a hill workout on Friday and not really backing off my distance on Saturday). I'll get my long run in after the mile and I'll have a pretty solid week. The one minor drawback is I'm not going to be able to go up to the XC nationals that are up in Maryland this weekend. The upside of this is Wade definitely will be able to go. I think its going to be good for him, give him a little boost in his last week before he can start running.

superbowl weekend

had two medicore runs over the weekend. Saturday was an easy 7 and Sunday was a pathetic 13. Sunday was just rough because we went out for one of my buddy's birthdays and I failed to have the motivation to go out and run really hard on Sunday. Hit 60 for the week though so starting to head in the right direction. Probably going to try and do that again this week and then we'll see what Coach has to say.

The Superbowl was definitely very entertaining this year, I was kind of pulling for the Cardinals just because they were the underdog. They gave the Steelers a run for their money in the fourth quarter which really kept it interesting.