Monday, September 7, 2009

Labor Day

This morning's run, however, was anything but labored. By morning, I mean "before noon," as I took full advantage of the day off and didn't get up till ten, ate some breakfast before my run, and finally hit the road at 11:00. Ah, love work holidays!

Since today was a recovery run, aka easy run, I didn't have any objectives other than not trying too hard. Taking it easy.

Since I had the time, and aware of the Fairhaven 15K approaching on Saturday, I did want to get in some miles in anticipation of cutting back later in the week to keep my legs fresh for the race. My plan was for eight miles, then to Starbucks, which would add another half mile or more depending on how I configured the route.

I had an almost-4-mile loop that I was going to do twice, once clockwise and once counter-clockwise.

Maybe because I had a long night's sleep last night, I started out easy but pretty quick, about 9:30 pace. The next few miles were progressively a little faster, around 9:20, 9:15 and so forth. (I haven't downloaded Garmin data yet but I noted most of the splits as they passed.)

As I finished the first loop, I ran on a bit until I passed four miles, then turned back to go in the opposite direction. I stopped briefly in the park to use the restroom (which was open, unlike the time I tried to stop earlier in the morning).

One of the reasons I wanted to take a loop in this direction was because part of this route is the beginning of a 5-mile race I'm planning to do in a couple of weeks. Uphill from the Y (gotta love a race that starts uphill), then a long downhill on 67th. (Then into some residential streets that I can't recall, and didn't try to duplicate today).

With thoughts of the race in mind, I powered up the hill (my one departure from running "easy"), then cruised on the downhill. Since this occurred in miles 7 and 8, I ended up with a couple sub-nine miles that really improved my average pace.

Mile 9--the road to Starbucks. Actually the distance was only about 3/4 mile, but I just kept going to round up to nine miles. Then I decided to make it 15K. At that point, 9.3 miles, there seemed no reason not to go 9.5. So I did. Then I stopped.

Latte at Starbucks, then about .7 mile walk back to start. Average pace for run--9:03. REALLY?

My running plans for the rest of the week are to cut back. A few miles with some speedwork on Wednesday. Then no more running (I promise) till the 15K on Saturday.

There was a half marathon today in Redmond or Woodinville (one of those east side wine towns) at the Red Hook brewery, the Super Jock & Jill Half. A few weeks ago I briefly contemplated running it...but I could think of no good reasons to do it and plenty not to. Mainly, it's too close to the 15K. If I tried too hard to do well, I might have a hard time recovering for Saturday. But if I just ran it easy, I'd probably be disappointed in my time. Plus, $60 entry fee! Nuff said.

But I do like the idea of a race on a Monday holiday! Maybe next year. Congrats to all who ran!
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