Saturday, June 13, 2009

broken chain; tired; PR!

So my biking did not continue very well. Wednesday morning was all set and started out at 6am for 8+ miles, 2 loops at the ICAR campus. Got to the 1st turn around and my chain breaks. Had never had that happen before and had to walk my bike back to work. Very lucky I wasn't biking to work! Could have been a longer walk. Thursday biked at the gym which was good - not the same as biking outside, but I needed something. Friday was a day off form work - but many many hours on my feet. Played 18 holes of Par 3 golf in Charlotte, played 9 holes of regular golf, then went to a concert (NIN, general admission standing, in the "pit", then drove home and got to bed just before 1am. So this morning, alarm goes off at 5:15am to get ready for the Sunrise 8k race in Simpsonville. I knew from past races this year (7:37 pace for 10k) that I could have a new PR. I run 1 or 2 8k's a year (Green Valley & Sunrise) and my PR is from 2002 when I ran 38:32, which is a 7:46 pace. Was pretty tired, only ran once the last 2 weeks, but still thought I could break 38 minutes. Started out right on pace (7:24) but it felt even then that I could not maintain that for another 4 miles. I was right, but it wasn't too bad. Followed that up with 7:32 and 7:36. 4th mile has more uphill I think, but I still managed a 7:46, knowing I was a good deal ahead of my PR pace and was satisfied knowing that. Finished out with a 7:30 for a new PR of 37:50!!
Race notes: a bit warm for me of course. Good volunteers, nice neighborhood people with their sprinkler on for the runners, my rabbit was injured, so I stayed ahead of him from the beginning. He's still my rabbit though (LM).
Random notes - I know not many people read this (at least I don't think many, if any, do, but I am continuing for my own running history. That's really why I started anyway - I'm not a writer (obviously), but if someone else decides they want to read occasionally or more often - thanks and hope you enjoy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your picture from the mile mark looks very determined...I'll try to post them all the GTC facebook group tomorrow so you can check it out. :)