Gate to Gate Memorial Day Run - Monday, 30 May

The shirt says it all!

I have decided I love this race.  It will be an annual event for me as long as I am able to be active.  I love the whole idea of it.  What better way to celebrate our military men and women who have fallen in defense of our great nation.  The base puts on a great, well organized event.  Being retired military makes this day even more special for me.  Being able to celebrate it with like minded people is all the better.

There were about 1700 runners out of the 2000 that registered that showed up.  That's a pretty big race for around here.  The course is a fairly easy loop.  The only real challenge is the hill at the end.  It starts at about the 4 miles point.  Needless to say, a hill at the end of the race isn't fair!  LOL

I keep my pace around 8:30 to 8:40.  I felt pretty good with that.  About the 1 mile point, I noticed this young lady to my left.  Pretty darn cute if I must say so.  She was going at the same pace as I was, so her and I ran side by side for the next 3 miles.  When I would see her starting to slip behind me, I'd  motion for her to catch up and then I'd slow down just a tad.  It really wasn't as much for her as it was for me.  She couldn't have been much older then 23 or 24.  If that!  We stayed right with each other pretty good until the last water station at about 3.5 miles.  I stopped to get water as I was pretty dehydrated.  She kept going.  I thought I could catch up to her like I had done at the water station before, but wasn't able to.  Remember, this was the end of the race and the "HILL".  LOL  I ended up having to walk a couple more times on that damn hill, so my overall pace was a bit slower then how I started out.  But hey, I can live with that.

Anyway, I finished the race in 39:32.  Just about a minute slower then last year. But again, I am still not up to my level before the injury.  I was able to met up with the young lady at the end of the race and thank her for helping me keep my pace and post a decent time.  She said she was grateful as well.

Week of May 23 - 29

Nothing real special about the week.  Got in a good number of miles.  44 to be exact.  Worked out every day last week at the gym.  Saturday I woke up and decided to take the day off.  Was having a hard time getting motivated to get outside and run anyway.  It was only my second day off in over 2 weeks so I thought why not.  Of course, then I beat myself up the rest of the day and night for not running.  What the heck?  Can't even give myself a break!  LOL

I still feel like I am in recover mode from my injury.  The endurance is getting better.  When I went out for my run Sunday, all I wanted to do was get in about 4 miles without having to stop.  Thankfully, that is exactly what happened.  I had a good run.  Watched my pace from the very beginning and just took it down a bit when I started to feel tired.  I was able to do that for the whole run and it allowed me to finish the 4 miles without stopping.  I was very  happy.  Slowly, it is coming back. 

Well, that's all I have for last weeks running.

Week Summary

What a great week!  I finished up the week with 51 miles!  My most ever for a single week!  And that is after taking Sunday as a complete rest day.  I decided to do that after twisting my left ankle (yes the one I broke) slightly at the train run on Saturday.  It is nothing serious, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I took Sunday off.

Saturday marked the 24th straight day for running/working out!  Most ever!  24 straight days!  Just saying that seems weird.  That isn't something that would have ever come out of my mouth 2 years ago.  I was a fat, lazy man back then.  Anyway, I'll start the streak again today. 

I had great gym sessions this week also.  For the most part, I felt strong each time.  The race on Saturday was good too.  I took 2nd in AG.  I didn't expect to place since I am still working my way back to my pre-injury level.  But hey, I did and I'm slowing getting back to where I was.