Triples and Trails

Saturday was a long day, running-wise.  I woke up early, checked my Rapture-O-meter©, saw that I was still stuck on Earth (so close!) so I figured I would get to running.  This was to be a three run day so I had planned on going to check out the Walpole Town Forest 5K trail race.  I arrived early so I did some running through the woods and around the high school to kill some time.  Soon enough I was joined by Michael, Matt, David, Speedy, Mei-Ling from the club.  Actually, of the eight runners that day six of us were GNRC members.  To say that this "race" was laid back is a big understatement.  We go the directions from the director, lined up on the track and then a "OK, go ahead" as a start.  Since I had two more runs to do that day I took it nice and slow and ran the course with Matt; basically I was just enjoying being out in the woods for a change.  We broke out of the trees for the last time and rounded the track for our final lap.  I crossed the finish in sixth place with a time just slightly faster than a moving glacier.  Other than finding a tick that had managed to burrow into my ass cheek, it was a fun time.

Second run was another hour at moderate pace.  Absolutely nothing to report on that.  Same bat-route, same bat-pace.

Finally the time for the last run has arrived.  Surprisingly the weather was quite good all day.  So good, in fact, that I actually put on sunscreen to avoid getting burned.  As I started up my street me legs were just tired.  They were none to happy to be called into action again and they spent the next 15 minutes quietly complaining.  Too bad for them the run got pushed up to marathon pace soon enough.  Once I stepped up the tempo though, I found it was a lot easier to keep going.  Thirty minutes at MP and I was feeling fine.  During the 15 minute cool down I kept finding that my pace was creeping faster and faster without even realizing it.  Clearly, I had energy left in me.

What I took away from the runs on Saturday was that even when I was tired I was able to set a good pace and keep on pushing.  This is a good sign that maybe I am prepared for the relay in three weeks.  Of course I also finally realized that this relay is going to be absolutely brutal and I should expect to really feel it.  So there's that side of it too.