while trying to restructure my character...

I'm still kind of lacking in the long run department, but on other fronts the training is pretty strong. I'm neglecting the tempo runs a little, and I don't have much choice for the next couple weeks but all of the sudden Jerry has put this bug in my ear about the 10k at the Kansas Relays. I'm not sure how realistic it is to do the full thing, maybe just pacing duties. I am leery of running 25 laps and 50 left turns but it's a possibility. I finally got my day off today and it has been ideal. I got in a medium interval workout on the treadmill and then headed outside for a steady 6 mile cooldown, which tested the fuel reserves a bit. I was pretty famished by the time I hit Plaid, but their peanut butter/Choco granola bar and El Salvadorian coffee got me through. I am curious why it is the tendency to light roast a lot of the centro american varieties. It leaves them very beany.
Probably more interestingly, I was getting out for a run in the evening and I happened to look up over the rugby field and there was a bald eagle soring overhead. I'm not sure if it was checking out the fisheries ponds or something, but it was pretty odd. THen after I finished up, and was standing outside stretching in the twilight, I saw a really nice shooting star. It wasn't even fully dark and I caught this thing. About to head out for my shakeout, maybe more surreality awaits...

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ride the wave

I hit the track this morning for some work. It was another nice morning but I can't imagine the humidity abating for long. Jordan and Meagan had matching workouts of 4-8-12-16-16-12-8-4 w/ 60 second rest. The paces prescribed were quick and I didn't run great but I tried to hang with Jordan on the middle reps. I should hopefully be able to substantially improve on my efforts this morning and maybe feel better doing it. I did something like a 200-500-1100-800-1600-1200-600-200, I wasn't happy with missing out on the first 1600 but I had to break for the restroom and I at least touched on some faster paces on the other reps. The recovery made it a pretty honest effort and I at least was able to sneak below 5:00 pace. My goal for the summer is breaking 15:00 so we'll see what happens. The picture above is my uncle's digital rendering of a wave complete with a frigate bird. I think he used only Adobe throughout the process.

some ups and downs

I ran the Little Rock Marathon last weekend, finishing in 2:28:30ish. The race director took good care of all the elite runners, giving both the 1/2 and fullers the option of staying in the race hotel 2 nights prior to the race. I will note that their standards seem fairly relaxed and yet they gave us some nice little perks, with staging areas before and after and dinner before and whatnot. I again have to tip my hat because this is clearly not the norm in today's race circuit and if it is offered, there is often a very limited number of allowed elite spots. I had contacted the Woodlands marathon for instance and was not going to be offered any more than a comped entry, even though the marathon field was very limited. I have a number of issues surrounding this phenomenon but will just make note of the races that make an effort to help someone like myself. The course at Little Rock is quite winding and undulating for about 18 miles but then smoothes out and allows for a steady fin...

homage to the original

Summer's here, we've got nice, hot weather, lots of daylight and the only thing that sounds appealing sometimes is sitting on the couch in your underwear with your beverage of choice. There's alot of talk floating around of The Summer of Malmo, but I felt obliged to remind everybody about the origins of this proclamation: I think we all know who that was, more importantly we should consider the points laid out in his exclamation. Three months of floating, reading a book or two, tasting the fruits of the season: all these things can be well integrated into a great summer and successful rebuild to new heights in the fall. I too have always been a fan of The Summer of Malmo ideals. In fact, I pretty much use these methods when training for anything other than a marathon.

Red Dirt Harriers

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