Saturday, February 7, 2009

Weather or Not

Weather in Tennessee is fickle, funky and sometimes frustrating. A few mornings ago, it was 8. Today's forecasted high is 70. I ran this morning at 6:30 in breezy conditions at 51 degrees.

Mostly downwind, my first 4.5 miles were at a 9:35/mile pace. I could have pushed it, but just felt like going easy listening to tunes. It was a no-stress run, just clicking off miles and thinkin' about stuff. I decided to swing by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's meeting near my house and saw Superman Chuck Hendry, Coaches Mark and Heather, Sammi, Leslie and others. I met one young lady who is planning to run the Seattle full and asked if she'd be up for the 11.2 in PWP. Sounds like we run at the same pace, but her personal best in the half is 10 minutes faster than mine. I also heard the word "triathlete" in the conversation. Beware of the young'uns.

Back on the road and now into the stiff breeze, I finished an eight miler. My time was 1:17, a 9:44/mile pace. I was very happy with this run because last Saturday's was so terrible and I just needed to finish a distance run. I'm now 100% convinced I was fighting a bug last week. Tough noogies ... I still bagged 20 miles.

The forecast through mid-week looks like highs in the 60s and lows in the high 40s and low 50s. Can you say speed work at Radnor and miles in the hills? It's time to ramp up for three weeks before tapering.

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