race

"I'll teach me", is the phrase that comes to mind :)

I was upset enough about what I felt was a poor performance in the mile on Sunday, that instead of awarding myself ice cream and the rest of the day off, I took myself out for a punishment run. Abby and a friend visiting us from England were doing some of the Boulder 360, which is a 20-mile (or so) "citizens" bike ride on some gorgeous trails round the city. My original plan was to ride with them; I decided to run.

Honest, it wasn't just me who came away dissatisfed from this race.

The course looked fast: straight out for half a mile from the Capitol Building in downtown Denver, slightly uphill, but not so's you'd really notice; two right-angled turns then slightly downhill all the way to the finish with a minor lump inside the last 100 to the line. But it turned out to be slow.

So "slow" that I can only claim "job done", getting under 5:30. No "very pleased" 5:20 and no ecstatic sub 5:15. Worse still, I "should have" won :)

Last week, the Silicon Valley Marathon sent out an email announcing a "Hat Trick" prize for completing the Almaden Classic 10k (Sept 23), the San Jose R&R Half Marathon (Oct 14), and the Silicon Valley Full Marathon (Nov 4). Since I was already signed up for the half, and was planning on the full, it was a no brainer to run the 10k.

I only ask because tonight I raced straight off the sofa -- and didn't do too badly.

Over the last few days I've been engaged in an ongoing "workshop" about the mental/emotional and yes spiritual blocks to running fast -- the head stuff. It's challenging, exhausting work digging out the roots of my current "fear of discomfort". Yesterday's one-on-one session with coach Bobby McGee was a corker. And my wife Abby gets to run the follow-up. Heh heh. Good job she is a therapist, what?

This morning in Danville, I participated in the 5k run and really enjoyed this mornings race. There were at least 164 runners or more for the race. There was a 5k and a 12k. The weather was great and warm. I did this race 2 years ago and the time for that race was 32:51. My finish time this year was 36:02. I was surprised to look back at the log and see how I did the last time. I felt that I performed better than last time. I remember struggling through the race 2 years ago. This time I didn't feel like I struggled. I have decided to add this race to my normal lineup. I left the race feeling really really good.

Hi all,

Race 9 was the NYRR 8k (my 8th marathon qualifier). Due to the late winter storm that passed through NYC (dumping 5.5 inches of snow in Central Park), the NYRR postponed the Men’s Championship 8k to Sunday and changed the NYRR 8k race to a fun run. Anyone who registered for the race received credit towards the 2008 NYC marathon, whether or not they showed up. The course was the same – we started on the West Side at about 70th and ran clockwise around the Park, crossing at the 102nd Street Transverse and running all the way down around the bottom of the Park to finish at Tavern on the Green.