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Rollin' hills

So far as I can tell, there's sort of two deliniations of runner. Those who enjoy going faster and those who like going longer. I can obviously be lobbed in to one of those deviations. I enjoy the discovery of new venues and mostly figure my motives are related to exploration, rather than an enjoyment of ripping off quarters. Much of this has to do with the fact that I'm not that fast and I probably tend to find more success at longer races. Plus I like to eat and the only way I can figure to work up a really good appetite is to work out for a while, as opposed to a short while, and then expecting to see huge gains and sustain motivation when you've throttled your body to an extreme and possibly even injured yourself. I'm not knocking anyone, Im just explaining my motives, persuasions, and tastes based on some empirical evidence of my own and even some common sensical notions.

That being said, I ran my first 50k race last Saturday. It went fine, I was kind of able to eat and drink more than I might normally in a road marathon and presumably therefore keep more energy levels consistent. I negative split by a pretty good margin, based on the fact that the latter stages of the race are more congested. The group in charge of putting on the event did a nice job and it was a truly fine Oklahoma spring day, not too hot and overcast. I could have run faster, I could have tore or broken something, but I didn't and I will most likely do another one of these races beyond the marathon distance. I really enjoy the trails that we ran on, they were in good condition and though you are certainly restrained from being able to even approach your road race pace, there has got to be benefit in running something like this every once in a while, even to those striving for speediness.

I ventured to Finnegans in S-water on Saturday, nice beer options, lacked on interior but Im happy with my options now. Also, nice to see several restaurants opening in Norman, new joints that claim to be local, hip to, you name it. Mileage for the week was a little short of the century mark. I took Sunday off, biked a little, then ran 16 today with residual soreness but thoughts on some easy speed work pacing the Bishop McGuinness coach tomorrow. Prior to actually doing the trail thing, I had mulled over the Kansas Relays 10k but thats this Thursday and it would not be a pretty scene, I'm sure. I will do a couple 10ks yet before marathon efforts. Real workouts will have to wait until later this week, or next.

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