I went on my 6.6 out and back today and worked to better my rhythm, form, and breathing.  I didn't break any land speed records, but I feel totally psyched and ready for my 10K this Saturday.  The 4^th of July Peachtree Road Race is an Atlanta tradition - this is the 40^th running.  We've lived in this area for 21 years and I've longed to participate in this race.  I've either been too out of shape, too junior to ever hope of getting a 4^th of July off, or too busy.  I'm so excited to finally take part in this race.  The whole city gets quite involved and the t-shirts are highly coveted.  Every art class, art department, or art school in this region participates in the contest to pick the design for the shirt.  It's a closely guarded secret until the big reveal at the end of the race.  I've seen many of these t-shirts over the years lovingly framed and hanging on people's walls!  I intend to wear mine.

In general, it's less likely to be water than adaptation, particularly if there is much up and down on the  course, significant camber, concrete, or anything that beats up on your legs.  Overall, it sounds like progress, though, and the real benefits of any given run are likely to take 10+ days to start appearing.

5.0 today.

4.0 @ 8:54 pace then 400 @ 8:00, recover lap, 400 @ 8:00 then recover lap.

Felt pretty good...shin stopped hurting @ 1.5 miles.

HORNETDRIVER

Swam 800m at lunch today, it was unexpectedly sunny out, so that was nice.

I've had a bunch of poor runs lately, which was starting to make me think I lost all I worked for over the winter/spring, so I really, really pushed it tonight during my 5 miler. I was almost dead at the end, but I finished with my 2nd best 5 mile pace of 7:14. After looking up my training history on runningahead.com, where I log all my runs, it was actually my 7th fastest pace ever (for any run 3 miles and up) so today was a good day. Time for a shower.

Becky - best of luck with the race this weekend!

Ran 6 miles at a comfortable pace for me (9:50).  It was warm but there was a stiff wind which made it feel better.  I have made it back up to the double digits this weekend with an 11 mile run scheduled.

about 7, near 5 at goal pace, the heel somewhat better

I'm clocking in a little late here, but had a nice night at the track, despite a rain delay and much concern that the festivites would get canceled. First up were the little kiddies in the 200 M dash. That's a long way for a 3 yr old, but Skylar hung with the older kids great and finished the 200 in about 64 seconds! She was utterly adorable out there, running free, elbows straight like only a toddler knows how, and a huge smile on her face flanked by dimples!

Next up: Lincoln. Though he was tired from basketball camp today, he still brought home a 5 second PR by beating last summer's time. I think he finished in about 48 seconds.

I ran with the big dogs in the last, fast heat, though whether I really belonged there might have been iffy. With the rain and monitoring 2 kids, I didn't warm up completely as I might have liked. But I got off to nice, quick start anyway. By the straightaway, though, it was clear that a few of the young guys were too fast for too long. I finished 5th of 6 with a 28.88s. This beats last year's time by almost a second, and I think I could still improve it a little with some more focused training.

The "workout" session after the main event tonight was a predict-your-finish 5k. I didn't give it much thought and put down 23:00. I was rather surprised to find that I ran smoothly so soon after the 200. My pace was steady throughout and I had a nice dogfight with another guy over the last 3 laps. I took over in the last straightaway, though, and got him by a few seconds. 23:23 - and 3rd place in being close to my predicted time!But the real story was my son. He was beat from basketball, beat from the 200 sprint, but wanted to give the 5k a shot anyway. I figured he'd jog a couple laps and get tired a walk for a while before retiring. He'd never gone more than 2 miles before. I told him to just go for as long as he felt like it and not worry about doing the full distance. I knew he was beat.

I'll tell you what, that boy ran and ran and ran! We all started together, so I got to cheer him on a few times while lapping him. He just kept on going! Half way through I could tell he was psyched that he'd even done that much. With 2 laps to go I was screaming my fool head off for him! He was steady throughout and even finished with a kick to pass another kid. 34:15 PR for Lincoln!!!