Did the heat break in other parts of the country like it did in central Indiana? I wasn’t going to run, but talked myself in to it. I went out at 7PM tonight and the temps were in the mid-60’s with a nice breeze out of the north. Nice break from the mid 90’s earlier in the week!
It was a 5 mile PCR (Progress Calibration Run in Running Wizard terminology; basically a steady state run) and with pace range of 8:55 – 10:14 (9:21 suggested) that I did in 8:41 average pace. Went out way fast at 8:28 for the first mile, then told myself to slow down for the second at 9:04, then 8:55, 8:48, 8:36. Whoops! I hope tomorrow’s long run isn’t too painful ๐
My running group, Indy Runners, is doing an event in 2 weeks that has people on the marathon plan running the length of our rail trail, and us half marathoners doing about half of it — about 11 miles. My RW plan calls for just 7.5 that day, but I’m thinking of doing it and making sure I run slowly. Just for the social aspect and the box lunch on the downtown canal after.
Another silly idea is a half, Kokomo Highway Half, on 10/12 (my goal race is 11/2) on an almost complete stretch of highway. It will be a one time race run before the new highway opens to traffic. That’s less of a possibility, but on aspect of races that I like is the opportunity to run where I normally wouldn’t get a chance to run. The RW plan calls for a out-and-back or 7 mile race… so 3 miles of warm up, 7 miles of “racing”, and 3 miles of cool down, right? ๐ I don’t think I’ll do the race, but I am rather tempted. What’s stopping me, primarily, is that it’s the morning of my grad school commencement that I sorta want to go to ๐ I found a 7.7 mile race in the evening of 10/12 that I’ll probably do instead.