Old Man Breaks Through
Yes!
On a perfect Saturday morning for a long run around White Rock Lake (60 degrees and clear skies) and after plodding along for months at a slow pace to avoid an overtraining injury after years of lethargy, this ancient runner felt so good that he reeled off mile after mile at sub-10 minute pace and averaged 9:48/mile for the entire 10-mile run.
I had planned to run about 11 minute/mile pace for the 10 miles and to start out at 12 minute pace for the first 2 miles (until I warmed up). However, at first I could not make out the mile markers in the dark and when it was light enough to see the markers and calculate my pace, I discovered that I had done the first 3 miles in about 10:30 minute/mile pace (when I felt like I might be going slower than 12 minutes/mile). I tried to coast the next 5 miles at about 10:00 to 10:15 pace, but I found it impossible to run slower than about 9:40/mile. By the time I had done 8 miles, I felt so strong that I ran the last 2 miles @ 9:05/mile pace to finish in a total time of 1:38:00.
For once I did not look like a shuffling grandpa and I passed many runners (including several younger runners)!
The funniest part of my run came with about 3-4 miles to go when I reached the Dallas Arboretum and discovered that Luke's Locker and the Arboretum were sponsoring 5K and 10K races -- with hundreds of runners clogging the path as they waited for the races to start 15 minutes after I passed. I was forced to wade through the oblivious mob for about 2 minutes (and stop my watch), mostly running on the slope of a ditch full of muddy water. Once past that clueless group, I ran as the wind.
Barring an injury or illness, I will be ready to survive the Tyler Half on October 11 -- just 19 days from now.
2 comments:
By the way, I looked at an elevation profile of the Tyler Half and it is an up and down course. The worst part comes between miles 5 and 7 when we have a semi-steep drop of 170 feet over a 3/4 mile stretch followed by a hill climb of about 210 feet over the next mile. Most of the rest of the up and down "hills" (and dozens there are) range from about 25 to 70 feet up or down. In comparison, the worst "hill" at White Rock Lake is less than 100 feet in elevation (although over less than 1/4 mile distance)
The course winds for the first 4 miles around the UT Tyler campus, followed by about 6-7 miles on "country" roads, with the last 2-3 miles back over the same route on which we began our first 3 miles -- finishing within 100 yards of where we started.
Yea for winding hilly courses!
AHHHHH!!!!!
UR so cool!!
I'm so excited for you Unky Bobbie.
Ya' know you even looked stronger when I saw you today.
Way to go!
Wow, that's really awesome.
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