A new PB in Distance.....

The picture is from Beth's Grandfather's house in Ill. He past away this past summer at the age of 90. It really doesn't have anything to do with the post, but I liked seeing his backyard again.

Well another week has already past and I wasn't thrilled with my effort in getting out the door this week. Because of this, I decided to go out and run 7 miles tonight just so I can say I put in a PB for distance.

I chose a location that I'm familiar with and easy to run - flat and fast. In fact I still have my 3 mile PB on this course from earlier this year. The course itself is a single mile loop that I decided to run 7 times. I wasn't sure if I was going to get bored running this loop over and over but I do enjoy people watching and this course does get a lot of foot traffic.......

Mile 1 split was 9:45 on the nose - a little faster than I had planned. My goal here was to run an average of a sub 11 min mile so I felt this was a little fast, but I felt really good and my breathing was coming easy. Because of this I decided to keep going at this pace to see how long I could hang on.

Mile 2 split was another 9:47. Still feeling really good. Now I NEVER bring along any water on my runs, but because I knew I was going 7 today I brought long a bottle that I was taking sips about every half mile. (It lasted until mile 6 so it worked out well.) I was worried that it would be too hard to keep pace carrying a water bottle, but it wasn't causing any problems.

Mile 3 split was unsure - I do know I was at 29:23 at the mile marker though - so I was still on pace and feeling pretty good. Right about here I started to eyeball a possible sub 10 min mile average. The first 30 mins seemed to click along rather quickly and with the sun starting to go down, my 'people watching' group was dwindling - soon I wouldn't have any distractions, would it make the final 5k difficult?

Mile 4 I really stopped watching splits - I was in around 39:40 though. Slightly slower, but I was still feeling good. Sun dipped below the ridge and the sunset was beautiful.

Mile 5 was around 49:30. Faster than mile 4, but I started hurting a little though. My bad knee (left) was a little sore under my messed up kneecap (old HS injury). By now the sun is gone and it's starting to get dark. I'm pacing myself by seeing where "Running Sucks" t-shirt guy is.....

Mile 6 I'm on the home stretch now and already know I'll be finishing under 1:10:00 - I feel that good. 59:50 at the marker and I start to pick up the pace a little.

Mile 7 - t-shirt guy is finished - couldn't hold our pace and I blow past him, now it's only the 'serious' runners out on the path and I'm starting to pick off some of the slower people. 1:09:45 at the finish, and I could have run another 5 without any difficulty. Maybe I should consider running races longer than 5k? I'll wait until my race pace is under 9 min miles though.

Overall I am very pleased with the run. All the stroller runs are making me stronger and keeping my everyday pace down that helps with my recovery. When I get out without the stroller and my 30 lbs kid I feel like I'm moving along without any difficulty. Pretty soon I'll have to start mixing in some speed work since I'm planning to keep my base around 120 mile per month. (I'm around 100 now.)

Keep Steppin'
Bob