Okay, since I opened that can of worms, I am now officially sealing it shut!
Race report officially filed under Summer Solstice Blues Festival.
I am getting faster because 1) I am running consistently again after my surgery; 2) I am not doing speed work at the track per se, but "monitoring" a more rapid (8 ish) pace for mile repeats than I do on my long run days when I just go for distance 3) Gulp, once I play this card I can't pick it up again: I want to BQ this year. That is my ultimate running goal. I missed it by 6:05 in 2004. I've slowly been increasing my mileage, but now need to ratchet up the miles as I point to a September FLAT course north of Seattle... worse case I use Portland in October if I'm not ready. glidegal

I'm used to people on the track. We all have our stories (I may have mentioned the guy who told us to "take it easy" during a repeat workout), and most people obligingly get out of the way. I've given up on getting angry at those who don't, and merely ascribe their behavior to rudeness (which, notwithstanding the stereotype, is actually pretty rare in New York).

But like the rest of us old-timers, I don't understand why people go for their walks on the track. Boring enough when you're running.

The irony of the "I'm a taxpayer" defense is that a major reason from the Board of Ed's perspective to keep people out of the inside lanes is to allow the track to last longer so "taxpayers" don't have to pony up for redoing the track too frequently.

Finally, once (on a different track) a taxpayer who wouldn't get out of lane one thought hard and came up with the worst thing he could call me: "Democrat." My Clubmates got a kick out of that.

Saturday: 8 miles @ 7:56/mile.

fred, 90 degrees and humid is a nice day here. Ask Breger and Ksrunner about those kinds of days. I was so glad to run early in the morning in Phoenix. That warm, dry air was wonderful. But I soon realized why everyone there walks around with a bottle of water all the time. Very dry, and it sucks the moisture right out of you. Spareribs

104F or -40. I'll take the 104F any time. Hope to get a run in tonight as have VBS all day today.

ksrunr

10.11 in 1:36:22 or 9:32s... very surprised with that pace when I entered it into the log, it felt much slower. Off the grid for a business trip until Wednesday... good runs and races til then everyone and thanks so much for your continued support, it means so much. glidegal

Friday - 4 easy miles on grass loop

Saturday - 9 miles, including 8k race in 31:49.

Although today's race was my worst job of pacing in recent memory, it was still a PR and narrowly edged out my May 28 10k for best age-graded score since 1991.

Defending U.S. cross county champ in 10k, Chuck MacDonald, ran off and hid from the rest of us, running 29:02. It was part of the USTATF Grand Prix Series

60-64 AG

1 Chuck MacDonald Redding CA 60 29:02.0 5:51/M
2 Mike Ammon Carmichael CA 62 31:20.0 6:18/M
3 Perry Hayden Reno NV 62 31:34.0 6:21/M
4 Jim Howe San Jose CA 61 31:49.0 6:24/M
5 Dwight Cornwell Fort Collins CO 60 31:56.0 6:26/M
6 Frank Ruona Novato CA 61 32:01.0 6:27/M

The #3 guy had 15 meters on me early and I kept chasing him until I really started coming apart mid way through mile 4. Although he eventually tired too, I had nothing left. The eventual 2nd pace fnisher was sitting in 4th at 3 miles and blew by both of us. Have you ever seen uglier splits than these?

6:12, 6:16, 6:23, 6:32, and 6:26 for the last .97.

I'm sure I could have had a better time if I'd have just run my own race, but 3rd was probably the best I was ever going to do no matter how well I paced it. In any case, it gave me some confidence that I have a good chance to go sub-40 next Saturday for 10k on the track. Hopefully I can pace myself a little better with split times available every 400 meters.



http://This message has been edited by Jim24315 (edited Jun-23-2007).

Nice race Jim. You are right that the track makes even pacing easier to do with the constant feedback.

I'm off to do a fiveK for a workout, rather than a serious race. Not even wearing racing shoes. 5K to warm up, 5K race, then 5K to cool down for 9.3. Will post later on how it went. Spareribs

Jim, the thing with even splits is you don't know if the guy
is going to come back to you if he gets away. You were
hanging with them and racing. Great job.