WE HAVE LIFTOFF

After Saturday's run I had a blog entry in my head - talking about how fit I am. But it's really hard to talk about myself after what happened in Houston on Sunday. Most impressive, Ryan Hall ran 59:43 for the half marathon, beating the old American Record by 1:12. Team USA Minnesota runners ran well too, including Andrew Carlson and Jason Lehmkuhle who both PR'd with sub-1:03 performances to finish 4th and 5th, respectively. Another Minnesotan in the race, Kevin won the 45-49 age-group by 3:20 with a 1:13:25.

In the marathon, Michael lowered his PR by nearly 3 minutes to 2:17:46. Jason missed the 2:22 Olympic Trials qualifying standard with his 2:24:14.

On the women's side, Minnesota runners dominated the 30-34 age-group, claiming the top-3 spots. Most impressive from that group was Erin's 2:48:18. While she missed the 2:47 Olympic Trials qualifying standard, she ran nearly a 5-minute PR.

Finally, because she's THAT good, she gets her own paragraph. Jenna was the 5th woman (1st American), lowering her PR by 3:12 to 2:42:39. How's this for splits; 1:23:01/1:19:38? If it's easier for you to understand "pace," she ran 6:20 pace for the first half and then dropped down to 6:05 pace for the second half. Sweet!!!

While we've had a very mild winter so far, usually this is the time of year when winter really starts to drag. I haven't raced for 3 months, the "real" racing season is still 2-3 months away, it's the coldest part of the year, it's dark, the holidays are behind us, etc. etc. Motivation can really start to suffer. Seeing yesterday's results were definitely a shot in the arm.

Alright, that's enough ass-kissing for today.

As I started to mention at the beginning of my post, I'm feeling fit. Not 59:43 half marathon-fit. Probably not even sub-3 fit. But definitely mid-January fit.

This sense of fitness hit me Saturday as I ran a solo 19 miler at 7:45 pace in 10 degree weather. This run gave me 76 for the week on 8 runs.

Sunday (after reading the Houston results) I headed out for a nice 12 mile trail run. I felt really good, especially for running 19 miles the day before, and had to keep reigning myself in.

Right at the end of this run it started snowing. This morning I woke up to about 6” of new snow. It’s about time we get the brown grass covered up. Let’s hope they’re out plowing the paths today.

Quote of the day;

“I certainly don't read much or have any scientific basis on my training...I just like to run.” – Jenna