Raintree 21 miler

Started off immediately feeling a little better and recovered, having taken yesterday off and the runs before so slow, but still the first 5 miles I couldn’t get out of the slow funk I’d been in and sub 8 seemed still a bit of a chore. But after 5 miles, I took a Gu brand gel and that plus I guess just getting loose and warmed up I started to get in a little bit of a better rhythm. 5-9 as I ran down Rea and onto Bevington, I clipped away nicely and as I got into the 9th mile heading back towards the house I began to feel the first sign of fatigue. I’ll say the miles solo and with no headphones or anything seemed to go by peacefully and quickly. I made it back home as planned shortly after 10am where Mike Oelz was waiting for me to join in. I was at about 11.8 here, and I quickly grabbed my first ever Maurten gel and switched into my new Zoom Flys, and away we went. Holy cow. The immediate feel of the new shoes felt like someone gave me leg transplants. I had springs on my feet. I have never felt a show like this. The result was a dip below 7:30 pace, but I knew Oelz had to get warmed up and I didn’t want to get too eager so I actually backed off a bit as we settled into conversational pace. More hills as we ventured up Four Mile Creek, and the time started ticking away nicely with the company. At mile 16 Oelz wished to back off and allow me to go, which was fine. I was starting to feel the itch to drop some miles and wanted to capitalize in doing so at this point of the run. I turned into Ballantyne Commons and into Alexa here solo again, and got excited as I knew was going to complete 20 with out a collapse. More hills during this stretch and back out to Providence Rd where I was past 18 miles. On the sidewalk past Latin I started to glide with ease and joy, and realized I was going to reach home past 20 miles so I started thinking about this being a great Run where id finish it at 21. Down the home stretch I passed home at 20.5 and so tacked on an extra half mile and finished the run with my last mile being my fastest of the day. The second half of the run was also a big negative split. A great confidence boost with the wheel falling off last week, and to pull it off with all the hills today, I’m seeing the glass half full (only not fully full, in a perfect world I would have liked the overall pace quicker, but each run has its own design-how we go along with it is what counts). The Maurten gel surely was also a great weapon. That stuff gave me a big second wind. Hard to see myself getting to the pace that will yield a PR, which has been looming in my head since my half marathon PR in Nov., but the taper is here, and race day can have some magic-especially at Magic Kingdom?! :). 

running ruminations

one way to look at running is to consider the runner as a fitness receptacle vessel. the metaphor occurred to me on my run this evening as I was about 30 minutes into the run, and started to contemplate my current level of fitness. I've noticed I have gotten stronger overall physically and mentally being able to knock off runs of certain distance and pace with greater ease, as well as feeling my current state in this approaching summit of training before the taper where the compounded toll of the pyramid is being noticed. The notion of a receptacle comes to mind as I have gotten here by a building phase of stretching what I have been able to absorb, and then being able to fill a larger amount of fitness the next week, similar to a weight lifter who breaks his muscles, only to find them grown back in stronger after the recovery. And so, as a runner, we are either using the container of fitness that we have built, sustaining it, allowing it to shrink, or expanding it - pushing the envelope of our boundaries hoping that we might not shatter it too much, so we can have it repaired stronger and able to hold more fitness, as we then get it ready to put on display at our contest.

For me, tonight, it was with uncertain reservation that I eschewed my weighed option of pushing some miles on the run at a faster pace - a trade off of perhaps a better decision - in order to be ready to maximize my effort on the pinnacled 20 miler this weekend, by keeping tonight full duration in cruise control.

Alas, around the 7th mile, as I sauntered onto Strawberry Ln., did I serendipitously slide into some swifter segments of the final sail, at least in feeling. The run felt very nice and comfortable. I am in good spirits and ready to take on the outpouring of the rest of the final hard week into my container before I begin the sharpening and recovery into Disney