Hometown 5k and 9 miles + 9 miles

The other day I logged in to facebook to see I had an event invitation......oooh what could this be?  Turns out my hometown is hosting a 5k run and 1 mile walk over the 4th of July weekend for their 125th celebration.  I had previously decided I wasn't heading home for the 125th shenanigans, but now that they've thrown in a race, I'm in!  See how easy that is to get me home friends and family?  Put on a 5k.  Now you all know.  :p  Of course I snooped on the race competition a little.  Should be a darn good time.

I've never done a legit hometown race, as the last one that was held in my town was for the Centennial, and if you do the math, I was...well...one.  I mean, check out the sweet logo, it has a farm in the background for goodness sakes.  I've already decided that if Nick won't attend with me, I'll ask his dad to come.  His dad was a proud Wakondian as well.  Three cheers for that.

When I brought up my trusty race spreadsheet to add this gem aboard, I realized that this would race would have me racing 6 consecutive weekends this summer..... hmmm... overkill?  Naw...perfection. :)  In the great Midwest we don't get the pleasure of racing year round, so I really have to concentrate my efforts to the summer months.  Which I don't mind at all.  :)

Last night I had a tough 9 miler with 7 miles @ tempo pace of 8:39.  For some reason I get really worked up over tempo runs.  I never think I can hit the pace for as long as I need to.  Running is so much of a mental sport isn't it?  I wrote the 8:39 on my hand as a reminder of my pace and I took off.

It.Was.Warm.  But in a good way.  It was in the 70s, yet there were people in long sleeves and pants...uhh...wtf?  My legs hurt.  My calves were tight and my quads felt shredded and I could not find the tempo pace.  Every time I looked at my Garmin it was showing my pace ~7:30-7:50, so then I'd slow down a bit and be in the 9:30 range.  Somehow those first two tempo miles still came in close to my pace.

I stopped at a water fountain to take in some H2O (yay for water fountains being on!!) and took a second to stretch on the calves and quads.  Wow did this make a world of difference, maybe they just needed to run out all the junk that have been in them since Saturdays run, but they felt great.  Suddenly my "easy/strong" pace was right in the 8:35 range.  After this point the run was just fun.

Bug count:  I managed to swallow two bugs *simultaneously*.  I'm as impressed as you are.  As one flew in and I tried to close the throat a second one followed suit.  Blech.  Also, I managed to get something moth-like with much larger (and much more noticeable on the tongue) wings.  Double blech.

With my final cooldown lap to go, I was walking through the "detour" area of the trail.  (This detour is completely made by runners/bikers, and really it's just a very small path through some thin trees.  I always walk because I'm not able to lose an eyeball to a tree branch gouging.)  As I was walking, a biker came up behind me and asked if this was the trail.  And then I realized it was a guy I went to college with that is verrrrrry attractive.  We chatted for a minute or two and then went on our way.  Of course when I got home, I realized I had 10-15 dead gnats stuck to my neck/chest.  Classy Jeri.  Soooo classy.

I did the 9 miles in 1:18:26 for a pace of 8:43.  My tempo pace was 8:31.

1. 9:33
2. 8:33
3. 8:40
4. 8:32
5. 8:34
6. 8:34
7. 8:36
8. 8:10
9. 9:10


When I got home I was shocked to discover I wasn't craving ice cream.  I immediately took my temperature.  Jk.  I actually had normal food, it was really earth shattering.


This morning I rolled out of bed early to get my 9 mile easy run done so my legs would have ample time to recover before the LAST 20 MILER OF MARATHON TRAINING to be completed on Saturday.  I made sure to take the run easy, but was very surprised at how good my legs felt after a tough tempo run 12 hours prior.  


Not much occurred on this run, other than the fact that I was scared I would get yelled at by the construction workers for running through the area that was clearly marked with "Bike trail CLOSED!  Jeri this means you!" signs.  I don't have any problem running through there any other time because it's always after they've left for the day, but I could totally see them getting upset (and rightly so) when they're in there with machinery/tractors/etc.  Luckily they were working on the other side so I didn't encounter any danger or yelling.  Phew.


I did 9 miles in 1:25:09 for a pace of 9:25.
1. 9:34
2. 9:28
3. 9:32
4. 9:32
5. 9:29
6. 9:33
7. 9:25
8. 9:14
9. 9:17