AZ Run Dad

15:38 and a PR today. Completely went for it and it paid off. A lot of pain but no fear. Kilometer splits of 3:05, 3:05, 3:12, 3:10, 3:04. 3 weeks to Boston!

We are here with the kids and my wife's parents so my wife and I got to warm up together which was nice. We ran about 3 miles and made it to the start area with about 15 minutes to go. Plenty of time for some drills and strides. They have individual races for under 29, 30-39, masters, and the elite races which are unbelievable to watch. My wife and I were in the 30-39 race. The race atmosphere is lively and competitive. I was excited. When the horn went off my goal was simply to stick  with the lead group as long as I could. The group wasn't a tight pack but I was up towards the front. I went through the first mile in about 4:52. It already hurt but I didn't care. I continued to push and went by some guys. I was probably in about 10th place around at the first mile. The harder part of the course is the second mile. It has a gradual hill and was into the wind which wasn't much today. I passed a couple of more guys during mile 2 and I continued to push as hard as I could. Even though I was hurting I was overcome with confidence. I came through two mile in around 9:52. It was exciting to see that there were only a handful of guys ahead of me. I contined to put the pedal down as hard as I could. I was able to have a decent finish and ended up in 6th place. Obviuously I'm really pleased with this result. I am proud of the way I competed today and once again I had a good race when I didn't pay much attentiion to my watch. I'm not going to read too much into this for my marathon training other than that I am pretty fit right now. Using this same strategy in Boston will result in a quick death. No thanks! This is a great race and a highly recommend it. 

8 miles easy in Carlsbad. Ran from the hotel down to the ocean and along the ocean for a bit. Pretty much my dream run minus the part where I had to run through the busy freeway entrance and exit. 7:42

AM: 10 miles easy around the neighborhood. Actually felt nice to be back running my loop. My version of comfort food. 7:06

PM: 4 miles + 6 x strides in the grass. No watch.

AM: 12 miles with an AT Wave workout/tempo. Warmed up a little over four miles with some drills and strides then did 8 x 1k w/a 200 float. Averaged about 3:33 for the k and 48-50 for the 200. When it was done I had run 6.02 miles in 35:07 so about 5:50 pace. Pretty much a tempo run. I cooled down a couple miles to finish the run. Felt okay but not great. The quicker 200 float kind of made this one harder than I thought it was going to be. 

PM: 4 miles easy at Freestone Park. Last one of the cycle!

12 miles in Fountain Hills with John, Ricardo, and Ron. Nice and easy today.

20.2 miles w/16 at marathon pace was the plan today. Met the Boston crew in Fountain Hills and we warmed up about 4.25 miles mostly uphill then we all started our faster segments. Ariana Hilborn ran 10 with me and my coach john ran a few with is in the middle and I was on my own for the last 6. Much of the 16 faster miles were downhill with a couple of up hills in the beginning. Ariana and I were probably about 5:46-7 pace for 10 and then I ran the last 6 faster probably averaging 5:43. I was 1:32:06 for the 16 which is 5:45 pace. I felt great for a large portion of the run but I was weakening toward the end with some miles in the low 5:40s. After this run I feel like I can definitely run 5:50 pace in Boston but5:45 pace will require a near perfect race. I will error on the slow side.

Faster portion of the run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/474253473