No shame continues

For the year, I hit a high for miles run this week - 36; and I hit a high for miles run this month - 135. And I feel good today.

Tuesday I did four mediocre but steady 1600 repeats.

Friday I attacked hills and ran 7 miles of them. Then I pondered the weekend runs.

The Miracle Miles 15K and 5K was Saturday. Susan was committed to running it with a friend of hers. I was in the mood to race too but I had to do 20 long miles this weekend. I opted to use the 5K as a speed workout and covered it in 25:00 (8:03 pace) which is top third among my history of 5Ks but nowhere near as good as my dead-of-winter 5K records of earlier this year.

Susan ran the 15K with a former football defensive back who still looks like an athlete. He beat Susan to the finish while she came in at 1:20 (8:35 pace). I told her to call me later about running this morning.

We spoke at midday and I gave her a plan to do 20 miles with a 5:15 start. It was a beautiful morning to run with temps down to 72F, low/no humidity and a refreshing breeze. Unlike last week when my shoes felt like foundering rowboats with leaky hulls, today was an evaporating kind of day.

Susan and I did a 10-mile loop to Park Avenue in time to meet up with my usual suspects. I was feeling very good to that point but she was whipped. Even with some coaxing she headed for the barn. Between yesterday and today she'd logged 19 miles which would have been easy enough for me to rationalize into an excuse to go home. I know Jeanne could use the same deductive logic in a pinch.

I turned away and headed off with my Sunday bunch. There were about seven there this morning and only stately old Jack was going a full 10 miles which was highly unusual for the others. A few niggling injuries and overloaded mileage from the last two days had beat them down.

So I was running 10 at a slow pace on my own. I bumped into Jack a few times but it was pretty much a solo effort. With the day as nice as it was I was feeling no urge to slow to a walk. I let my hips work more regularly - loose and fluid. I relaxed my feet and worked efficiently to put one foot in front of the other.

I did the 20 in 3:19 which gave me a rush. That was under 10 minute mile pace. To celebrate I went over to the outdoor bistro to sit in the sun with the breeze blowing, and watched a steady flow of beautiful people out early. I devoured some buttermilk pancakes, bacon, cranberry juice and coffee. Mmmmmm. It was outstanding. Back home, I stretched and I am not feeling anywhere near as bad as I did over shorter distances in recent weeks. Maybe I am rounding into marathon shape. Who knew it would work again?