9/11 Sunday - Flew to San Diego for a company meeting. The airport was quite and thin. Flight was fine, Thank God. Good day of rememberance and realizing the Panthers have a franchise QB!! No running
9/12 Monday - After the day's meeting, got out for a light run around San Diego. Had to watch the clock so I could make it back in time for the evening's events, but was able to squeez in 4.5 miles of running around the hills.
9/15 Thursday - With two days off (Busy and Tired as hell are my excuses!) I really needed to exercise the legs. Trying to salvage the week with a good race, I didnt' want to overdo it - as I normally like to take the day off 2 days before a race anyway. Just ran 3.5 miles easy, but could tell there were some cobwebs.
9/17 Saturday - Hit the Brixx Race 10K - So the day before I knew I wasn't being the smartest in terms of preparing for the race by going to the Incubus concert at Verizon Ampetheater, but with 11 races I'm not the kind of guy to let running ALWAYS get in the way. And on top of that, I started coming down with a sore throat Friday afternoon. The last couple days in San Diego whiped me out as I didn't get enough rest, and I just felt run down. But on to the concert I went, and had a very late bed-time!
So after 4 hours of sleep, and with a throbbing sore throat I get out of bed and hazily put my clothes on and get out the door. I was so tired, I just sat in a booth at Brixx Pizza (pre-race site) and watch others warm up, until 15 mins before the race where I sauntered out and forced myself to warm up for 10 mins.
That allowed me to at least get warm, and when I toed the line, I was just hoping for the best. The first mile was sort of downhill, and I felt alright as I settled in behind the faster runners and knew I really had to watch my pace given my condition. Hit 6.03 for the first mile, and that felt fine. Started to climb the second mile a little, but while I thought I was upping the pace, I actually slowed a tad and hit 6.08 for a 12.12 two mile. Rolled to another downhill, and as Vincent Arey came flying by I tried to mimick his light stride and pick it up. Didn't feel like I was able to drop a negative mile here, but was thinking I was just maintaing pace and could maybe drop a negative split for the second half of the race. A little disappointed when I hit 18.20 for the 3 mile mark (6.08 split).
The 4th mile saw a good climb in elevation, as well as a couple racers who passed me. This is when I got focused from Jason Martin who said "worry about the guys in front, don't look back." This stuck with me the rest of the race. I wasn't going to care who passed me I was going to keep my focus up front. The oldest trick in the book, but if you don't remember to do it, a race will get away from you in a heartbeat. Only with focus did I manage to hang on, because that 4th mile started to get me. Came through in 24.34 (6.13 split). The 5th mile we were on roads winding around Elizabeth where I had an awful performance earlier in the GPX series at the Skyline 5k, so I was keyed in to running these streets with a vengence. I started to gain on the runners ahead who passed me, while we also reeled in a couple from the pack way ahead who were slowing down. Throttled the 5th mile pretty good, and was getting geared up to stay strong the last mile. Came through 5 in (30.49 (6.14 split ??? Approx. trying to recall as my watch deleted my splits)). The last mile was a BIG climb up 7th Street, and I was fighting the whole way. I was probably most proud of my fight in this race than all the other races of 2011. I was moaning as I was climbing, trying to catch the guys in front, and not let the ones in back catch me. I was able to get 1, and keep off another. Hit 37.08 for 6 miles, 6.19 split (maybe toughest mile on the course). With .2 to go, I came up to Greg Shore and we really kicked it in. We were stride for stride, both building speed the the whole .2 until about 50 meters from the tape he got up on his toes a little quicker and got me by a second. Still a 1.07 for the .2 I will take anyday.
After the race, I was totally done for. I slept for 3 hours, and layed around the house until I decided I needed to go to Urgent Care because I believed I had strep throat. So after finding out I had a fever and my throat looked awful, I got a shot of penicllin in the buttox to cap off the day. Awesome.
Time: 38.15
Place: 23rd
Pace: 6.09
Miles for day: 9
Week: 17 (last week was 46!)
9/19 Monday - Still recovering, I got antsy and wanted to run. I meant to run about 4 miles, but go into a route which didn't let me once I got past a certain point, and ended up running 50 mins around the hills behind my neighborhood. Felt okay, but got real weak the second half of the run.
Miles: 6.5~
Time: 49.13
Pace: slow
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