CHECK. CHECK. CHECK.

That's interesting. Friday I figured no one would be around, so I just threw a topic out there and ended up getting a bunch of comments. Sounds like there's no right or wrong answer. I talked with Heidi today and she had a good point; running at 5:30 AM the 8:10 pace is probably similar to 7:40s if I ran later in the day when I was more awake. Anyway...

I had 3 goals for the holiday weekend;

1) Get in my last long run. Check.

Saturday I ran solo for 30 minutes before meeting Evan at Lebanon Hills. He's just coming back from a broken toe and 7 weeks in the pool, but was still able to manage 90 minutes with me. After finishing those 90 minutes we stood around for a couple of minutes. I wasn't sure how I'd feel as I headed back out for another 5 miles. My knee was a little sore, but it went away quickly and I ended up feeling really good. I ran a total of 2:42 and called it 20 miles. I "only" had 62 miles for the week, but I was able to do that on 5 runs.

2) Run a decent 5K. Check.

The Brian Kraft 5K is flat, fast and very competitive. Given the way I've been running lately, I thought it'd be possible for me to break 18-minutes for the first time since college. However, I've learned over the years that I can think I'm in great shape and still not turn out a decent 5K. So, sub-18 or not, I wasn't going to let this race distract from Grandma's.

Now normally when I'm running a 5K all I can think about is "this sucks" and "I never want to run one of these again." Today was different. I actually felt good, was pretty confident and got into a nice rhythm early. I will admit I still get a little confused at the start when I’m going out hard and there are people ahead of me that end up running a minute slower than me. If you’re finishing at 6:00 – 6:05 pace, should you really be going out at 5:30 – 5:40 pace?

Anyway, I never saw the first mile marker and there wasn’t anyone reading splits, which is okay with me – less to think about. Halfway through the race I’m feeling pretty strong. It seems like I’m pulling away from people and gaining on others. About that time, Erin and Dan came by me and were moving very quickly. I can’t go with them, but just seeing these two really strong runners at this point in the race is a confidence booster. Two miles in I start seeing people I recognize, but never finish near – another confidence booster. About a half mile later Chip pulls alongside of me. Now this really surprises me because I’ve never beaten him. And while I didn’t beat him today, he was just 4 seconds in front of me.

So to make a long story longer, I crossed the line in 17:52 by my watch, officially it was 17:54. Either way, it’s another post-30 PR. To see how competitive this race is, check out the results here.

3) The third and most important goal was to survive the weekend with my knee and foot still intact. Right now I feel good, so unless things go south overnight, I should be able to check off this goal tomorrow too.

Taper time…