My 25th 8.5 Mile Circuit!

Started the week with the 8.5 mi circuit in the morning, and the weightroom in the evening. I ran in 104:26. Not my best time by any means but, considering the circumstances, I'm not displeased.

The bottom line is that this is the 25th time I have run that circuit, and I recorded my 6th fastest time. While I was way off my fastest time (10:28), I have only completed the run in under 100 minutes 3 times, and my time today was close to my 4th and 5th place efforts. I haven't run that circuit in a couple of months, and I expect my time to improve as I get closer to the next marathon.

I started my run about an hour late (about 7:15). There was a heavy wind coming out of the south, so I ran the 8.5 mile circuit clockwise, meaning that the last 3.5 miles was into the wind with the hill being last. While some magazines suggest that we adjust our routes to take the wind first, I am preparing for the KC Marathon's hills, and I needed to get my money's worth today. I did.

One problem of starting late is that I was innundated with phone calls. I had three calls that I had to take. The first came just as I was launching, and got me off track. The next came around the 1/2 mile mark, and I tried to run and talk at the same time, which didn't work out well at all. The third came just after the 1 mile mark and I had to walk, which cost me at least a couple of minutes. I didn't answer the phone after that.

Another problem of starting late is traffic. I got stuck at several lights, which cost me at least a minute. I also did two planned walking splits, but they were only 1.5 minutes each and did not significantly increase my time.

I started well and finished the first mile in 9:35. I finished the first major split in 29:52, but given the phone calls I'm not overly dissappointed in that time. The next split, 29:15, was a minute or so slow, and I arrived at the Zoo merge (5 mile point) at 59:07, which is over 4 minutes slower than my preferred time (I want to reach that point at 55 min or less). I slowed considerably from there, arriving at the trail / 48th street merge at 1:24:35, and taking 19:51 to make the last leg to my home. In contrast, I ran that same distance on my 5.5 mi route in 15:45 or so (albeit I was running mostly down hill that time and up hill this time). Regardless, I like to run it in no more than 17:30 when running up hill.

I also took a 1 mile untimed walk during lunch today with one of the other attorneys in the office.

Good lift tonight, as I worked on my biceps, triceps, shoulders, and abs.

My son Cornell also played a good football game tonite. No TD's, but two very tough catches. He made a third tough catch, but the ref missed the call and called the pass incomplete (the inexperienced ref was looking up and did not see that Cornell had his foot down in bounds). Cornell also showed me something I have never seen in him before. On a punt return he creamed a lineman, knocking him on his can. It was a tough, very hard hit. Cornell is speedy, so his job is to catch the guy with the ball, not ear hole some lineman. After the game, Cornell explained to me that the guy had grabbed his face mask on a previous play when Cornell was making a tackle and jammed Cornell's head into the ground. The ref's, being inexperienced, missed that one, too. So, on the punt a few plays later, Cornell sought out the guy and planted him. Tough sport!