2010 Bowman Cup

I met up with a friend from college to do the Kent State Homecoming 5K this morning. It was a fantastic day to be out and about, in the 70s, sunny. Finished in 26:17 by my watch, 26:30 by the official race time (I like my time better since it took a few seconds to get to the start because there were so many people -- there was no chip timing!)

Except that it was a day of near misses! Only the first 400 people got the really cool tshirts, I was #408. My 5k PR is 26:06, so I was 12 seconds off. And when I went to Ray's Place afterward to dutifully replace carbohydrates lost, like every good little runner should, they had just run out of the Centennial Alumni glasses. *Pouts.*

Seriously, though, it was a really good day. It was by far the most crowded race I've done... almost 1000 people. The first mile was pretty slow, around 9:30, just because there were so many runners. I started out in the middle of the pack. I picked it up the second mile, but there was a bottleneck when the race turned onto a narrower trail, so I was just under 18 minutes at the marker. Kicked it up toward the end even more but the finish was all uphill.

24 miles logged this week

What a beautiful fall morning... I did 10 miles in Granville. Slight soreness but it's tolerable.

I logged 24 miles this week over 4 runs, and surprisingly that wasn't my highest week to date... a couple weeks ago I totaled 24.7. Both Monday and today I pushed my long runs a little further because it has just been so nice out, managed 8 on Monday and 10 today. On Wednesday I did hill repeats on the treadmill and my legs seriously hurt so I barely eeked out 3 Thursday.

Saturday mornings in Granville are marvelous. The farmers market is always packed, there are a ton of people out on the bike trail and there's this wonderful little coffee shop with great fair trade blends. Such a stark contrast from Newark.

I've been feeling really good on my long runs... usually I fall into a good rhythm after the first 2, around a 10 minute pace, and the rest of the way is a breeze (as long as the iPod is charged up... the Hold Steady's new one is my latest favorite). I need to find some hillier routes for my shorter runs, though. Dawes is always good, I'll try to get there next week.

I'm shaking things up, trying to decide if I want to move up to 5 days of running or stick with one day on the elliptical.

Game plan for fall

First a confession... I told myself I was going to take it super easy this week to recover. I was going to be good and stick to the elliptical. But it has been a hellish week... I was kind of riled up after work Tuesday and went out to run 2.5. Then I did the same thing Thursday, logging 3 at the bike trail.

My legs are pretty sore from strength training this morning but I'm going to attempt to do two loops around the long trail at Dawes Arboretum tomorrow morning. Next time I go there with the pups I'll take some pics, it's beautiful there.

I'm excited... I have a new plan. Kind of, anyway. Still needs some tweaks. It might be a bit too ambitious, I'll play with it as I go along.

My goal is baby steps until I eventually get to the marathon distance. (May = Flying Pig). The big race I'm working toward is Salt Fork 10-mile trail challenge.