Early morning longer, but short tempo

I started at 4:28 this morning so that I could try to get in 10 miles without getting to work later. It's amazing how much harder it was to wake up 10 minutes earlier (to start running 15 minutes earlier.) It was just below 30 degrees with no wind, so pretty ideal morning conditions for the beginning of February. Last year we had snow at this time and I was getting ready to go to Richmond for a technology conference.

I started out a little faster than normal and went up Cowan to the hospital. I did a loop around the traffic circle and then came back down and swung by Christ Lutheran Church to pick up a book for wedding ceremonies. Carrying that back to the car was annoying, but I got it done. That slowed me down a little bit, as when I got back to the cars, Bob and Justin were already gone. At first I was frustrated because I didn't know that I was going to be late... apparently I've forgotten how to do math. But then I realized that it was exactly what I needed to happen. I would let them go on ahead and I could do tempo to catch up with them. Greg said to maybe throw a little bit of tempo in.

So off I went! I didn't know if they would go down Sunken Road as none of us had checked it out since the snow. It was pretty sloppy, and I was surprised to catch them by the end of it. So much for the tempo. Although to be honest, Bob did run considerably faster than usual on this run/ The slowest miles with him were a 7:23 first mile and a 7:39 last mile (for him) where we both started to shut it down because I'd caught him. So great job, Bob! Everyone says that I'm too mean to Bob on this blog... so it's time to give credit where credit is due. And besides, when Bob tells me to run on the right side of the road instead of the left, I do it. And when Justin asks "Why are we running on this side of the road now," I say it's because Bob said so. That's my ode to Bob for the day.

Justin is getting to the point where he is playing Devil's Advocate all the time, even when we're agree with his own points. Sometimes he's just contradicting himself. Maybe that's why the pace was so good. When we got off of the Canal, Justin and I went to the end of Franklin Street while Bob cut straight up to Sunken. The plan was to catch him, but I didn't take into account how fast we were already going in the first place. He was moving. It took me to the top of the hill on Hanover to get him, and I was rolling. I covered that mile in 5:48. I was going pretty quick on that slightly downhill portion between Monroe and William. But Bob put up a good fight.

As soon as I caught him, it was over. We both stopped. Like almost walking for a minute probably. But I had to keep going so I ran him back to the car and turned back for Justin. We ran around above the college and then shut it down. Justin was ready to take a rest at the Catholic church. I tried to get him to visit the St. Mary statue, but he didn't want to get arrested.

This afternoon I went to running club. It was pretty cool, I wore pants and long sleeves. We ran for about 2 minutes (2 and a half miles for me) and then did a lot of drills. A good day of running.

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