Run for the Schools

I ran the Run for the Schools race in 23:17 -- not my goal, but hey, I'll take it.

I went out quite fast, staying with Will Harte for the first mile in 7:05 -- probably a little too fast, but hey, I wanted to see what I could do. I wouldn't have hit my goal if I didn't maintain that pace.

My second mile was 7:37 -- 14:42. Then my last 1.1 miles were in 8:35 (7:48 pace). Overall, my pace averaged 7:29.

You know what this is? A place to start, that's what it is. I was a little disappointed in my time, but it's OK. As long as I am running, I am doing great.

I have some nice plans for next year. First of all, I'm going to make the run for the schools 5K my championship race every year. Maybe I can train, do some speedwork, find a mile race and run as fast a mile as possible over the summer, then build back up with some mileage for a fast 5K in October. That can be my routine.

I had thought about taking another month to run a fast mile, but I don't think I will. Part of it is, I want to start over and do this right. I need to lose some weight. I'm at 175, and I need to probably cut 10 pounds. The other part is, I'm hurting a little. This hip-butt issue is painful -- I need to rest it and get it feeling better. Then I'm feeling a little tenderness to the sides of my Achilles -- not the Achilles themselves -- on both feet. So I need to back off, get some rest, gain some strength, lose some weight, do the right training.

Next year, I hit the 50 age group, and to safely run in the top 5 in Iowa City I need to hit 21 minutes. So that will be my goal. And if I do this right, I should be able to make that.

I was inspired yesterday by my middle school kids. They all did great, some had good meets, some off meets, but they learned a lot, ran with other kids, and I think had a good time. I hope I kept them inspired for cross country for a long time.

Miles on new shoes -- 245