ill winds

Needing gas in the car for the morning commute to work, I decided to forgo the quick run to the track, and decided to stop there after fueling up. Kill two birds with a single stone. It was all I could do to drag myself off the couch after dinner and get going. It was a busy summer day at work and I had got home a bit late. After dinner, I was on the verge of falling asleep, and I knew it was now or never for my run, as it was getting late.

At the track, I warmed up by doing 3K easy on the grass as I planned a Tempo run on the track to get an accurate time/distance. The track can be hard on the body after a while, so I wanted to keep my time on it at a minimum. My plan was to run 5K at Tempo pace ( 3:56/K) for a planned time of 19:40. I crossed the first K in 3:57, so I knew I was on pace, and ended up finishing in 19:41.5. I finished up my workout with 5x100m strides on the soccer pitch and then a 2K cool down, for a total of about 10K for the day. Considering how I felt a bit earlier on the couch, I was pretty happy with the run. It was wonderful running weather again, excepting for a bit of a headwind on the backstretch. But, I sometimes think the track always has a headwind of some kind. On the back and homestretch too! Where are the tailwinds?

As for today's 5K race in Rome, my prediction turned out to be correct, as Bekele won his 5K in 12:51.44. Maybe Bekele and I have less in common than I first thought. I know we both run, and we both sometimes run on a track; but he finished his race, showered, and had a sandwich before I would have been finished!