I had to skip Thursday's easy little tempo run for work reasons but I was not to be denied on Friday. I buzzed around the big block (3 miles) in 27 minutes and felt fresh. The afternoon before I was feeling tightness in my chest that gave me pause. I have had it before and sensed it to be stress related. I knew a run would flush it out and it did.
Sunday dawned and I drove to Park Avenue ready for a 10 miler. I wish I had left a little earlier because I would have taken some excellent photographs. The sun was just starting to lighten the sky and the lake was as still as could be with a covey of ducks floating near shore. It would have been a good shot.
Downtown, the seasonal decorative lights were still blazing from city hall all up the street past the park, as far as you could see. It was still dim enough that a photo would have been spectacular. I had the camera but I was late to the meet up.
Chris, Jack, Bob and Marty were the only ones there. It was but 50F and I stripped down to T-shirt while some wore long sleeves and gloves. By the end of 10 miles I was in the right outfit.
At the 5th mile Marty and Jack peeled off and we ran into Seth who sings as a Dickens caroller throughout the season. He turned around and ran the next five miles back to downtown. I had tried to run on his shoulder last week in the half marathon but he always pulled ahead. He did so today too but turned around every few blocks to run back to us.
In the last two miles I decided to stick with him and picked up my pace. We ran off from Bob and Chris and had a good blow for that series of miles.
What have we become? I have pondered recently why I and those I blog with have all become/stuck with running long races (halfs, marathons). It seems we are not so inclined to run shorter distances. Is it because we're always training for the long ones? Or am I just not paying attention to your short races?
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6 comments:
I hope the holiday season is going well for you and your family. Come visit New England soon!
I don't know how you could have missed that PR'd on a 5K. I was as obnoxious about it as I could be!
Do a 10K - it will do you good.
I dunno - a 5K sounds pretty attractive right now!
Race distances...I have observed that I usually need to get past the four mile mark before a run or race becomes truly enjoyable. Thus, a 5K feels like work. A 10K is just getting interesting when I have to quit. 15K is nice, but there aren't many of them. Thus a half is about perfect and a full is yet another challenge.
So, yeah, I'm one that only goes long.
I think Joe is right. After a while your training becomes such that it takes ages to warm up and get interested in the race or training run you are doing. Also, I find that after a while the training and results plateau, so you want yet longer / higher / further challenges to get back on what you perceive as the right track.
I just hate running full out, and I feel like I have to do that in a 5K. Plus they're so stinking expensive I don't get my monies worth or a medal for the short races!!! AND, the longer I run the more cheese dip I can have!
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