Ending a week at 3M

Managed to keep my daily 10 miles up to Thursday. Friday I was in deposistions all day and did not get a run in. Saturday I debated how far to run then got a better offer from Eileen to go to WF for breakfast and skipped my run to join Ruth Anne and Eileen. Sunday was 3M and I had decided to race it and see if I could better my previous PR of 1:29:05. I secretly wanted to go under 1:27 but I've done no speed work for nearly 3 months and had no idea how I would feel at a 6:35-6:37 pace since I haven't even worn a watch for the past month. I ended up averaging a 6:43 pace except for mile 2 ran in 7:29? Where did that come from? Anyway, I PR'd by 1 second in 1:29:04. As usual, my splits varied from a fast 6:21 to that WTF 7:29. Mile 13 in 6:30 tells me I wasn't out of gas so I basically just relaxed to much in mile 2 and cost myself 30-45 seconds. Mileage for the week was 55.1 miles. I ran my Monday 10 miler this morning feeling no ill effects from racing. I saw lots of folks out on the course cheering and heard my name a few times when I never saw who called out. After finishing, I found Ruth Anne and Eileen and we cheered until everyone from my group came in. I think nearly everyone from my group who ran PR'd and felt good about the race.

After the race, we went trail riding. Things were going pretty good until both horses became very agitated about something. They were prancing around and looking back over their shoulders. After we turned around to head home, I spotted a dog that had been following us down the trail. As we got closer, it was a young but big pit bull and he just stood in the trail blocking our way back. I was riding Al who seemed raring and ready to go after the dog.



Normally, I would have just pointed him and charged but I have never actually encountered a pit out in the wild and certainly not on a horse. While Al and I stared at the dog, Ruth Anne called the house and my dad came down in is truck to chase off the dog. We will be working on a plan for this type of encounter before we head out on our next ride.





On another note, I always check out the race pictures to look for clues on my form and see if any of the pictures turned out. Usually, I am caught in a wierd stance or have snot flying. This picture from the M.A.D.D. Jinglebell Run in December is one that I actually like. It makes me look like I'm running fast! To put it in perspective though, I am running a 5K (3.1 miles) at a 6:21 pace and the world record pace for a MARATHON (26.2 miles) is around 4:38 pace!




I'd kill to run a single mile that fast!