St Croix Valley Runners, five miles as always. I wanted to run about as fast as I could and ended up running with Kent and Dave, both much faster than me. But Kent was happy to run my pace, even slower perhaps, because he was part way through a 19-mile run, and Dave stuck with us most of the way. Nice group today - nine people in all, if I remember right.
I finished in 43:24, about a half minute slower than two weeks ago. That’s a pace of 8:41, plenty good enough.
Thursday, April Fools Day, 2010:
April fool weather. 8.2 miles in the park today, 77 degrees at the start and 80 at the finish. The sun was out, and the only cooling grace came from a south wind. The run started well, but within two or three miles the heat was in control and I was walking up all hills and even sometimes on the flat. Toward the end my face felt flushed and I deliberately slowed a bit more.
Nevertheless, the finish time was 1:24:31, which comes out to an average pace of 10:18. That’s good enough for a hot day, actually, the first hot run of the season, and good training for a hot marathon. The next marathon may very well be hot - it seems likely, given the weather we’ve seen so far this spring.
I did have a slightly upset stomach afterward. Maybe I was a little dehydrated - I didn’t take any water until the run was over. Or maybe I ran too soon after eating lunch.
Before the run I was at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Some of the results are a little confusing, but the most important cancer marker (called M-spike) was the same as last month, and another marker suggests the tumor burden may actually be down a trifle. It’s good, I’m happy. I’ve posted about it on Myeloma Hope.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010:
Jim & I ran 7.1 miles in the park. At the start we remarked on the gloomy, windy day, and when it was over 71 minutes later the sun was out and it was a beautiful spring day. We had a very enjoyable run.
I love running with Jim. We have similar interests and always have a lot to talk about. He is much faster, though, probably a minute and a half per mile faster, so our runs tend to be an easy, healing jog for him and nearly a race for me. I could slow down, of course, but something makes me want to go as fast as I can.
That happened today. We ran mostly the same route as last Thursday, and it took about a minute longer, finishing in 1:11:38. This route was actually a quarter mile longer, though, so the pace was about 10:05, even a few seconds per mile faster than Thursday’s. It’s good - I’m getting a little faster. Slowly. :-)
Sunday, March 28, 2010:
The Human Race 8k, an annual event that we three all enjoy. Start near St Thomas University, run along Summit Blvd, around William Mitchell College of Law, and Back to St Thomas. I think this was the fastest 8k I’ve run in at least a year, maybe longer. 41:28, seventh of 14 in my age group, more than a minute faster than last year. It’s a masterpiece. And I can do better. I will.
What a beautiful day for a race. Temp was about 50 degrees, bright sun, 10-mph crosswind that felt good. As always, the race was well organized and came off without a hitch, except that mile marker 3 was about a tenth of a mile east of where it should have been :-)
Splits: 8:23, 8:06, 16:43 (2 mi), 8:21, total 41:34. Official results actually show 41:28 chip time, pace 8:21.
Thursday, March 25, 2010:
Recovery run in the park today, on the grass trails for the first time this year. Surprise - they were FINE, just as firm as they ever are in the summer. Because I had run 20 miles just a few days ago, I ran fairly easily and finished the 6.9 miles in 1:10:30, not actually a bad time for this hilly route. That’s a pace of 10:13. I walked up some hills, but mostly ran.
Lovely run. Everything is still brown, actually getting a little too dry perhaps. The rivers are flooding, but the wilderness needs rain.
Organic chicken a la Sunshine, organic red cabbage & onion, jicama, & papaya.
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