Fred Smoot can be my wingman anytime

Ok, so I am a little late on this, because last week was well, a week ago. Still, I have been busy doing nothing this week. I have done a little bit of work, but for the most part I have been a waste of space. I am not sure if that is really going to change much over the next few weeks, but at least my location will. My plan is to head home to NH for a couple of weeks, with my sights set on the Cigna 5k in Manchester on August 14th. I ran 15:16 last year, but this year it's time to break 15.

Last week I did another race, this time a 5k in Crystal City. This race started at 8pm so I had all day to hang out and work myself up into frenzy. Surprisingly I held it together for most of the day. I took a nap, ate some Cheeze-Its, and drank some water. The pre-race details aren't anything spectacular. I showed up about an hour early and warmed up about 45 minutes before with the Pacer guys. It was hot as balls out, but at least there was a breeze this week. Humidity is weird around here. Most of the time it sucks and it plays mean tricks too. Sometimes it will go away for a day, and you think life is okay. Then it comes back and you remember how much it sucks, especially to race in. (those are some of the worst sentences I have ever written)

So, I did a few striders and it seemed like everyone and their mom had a Pacer jersey/shirt on at the line. I know it was a Pacers sponsored race, but wow, what a following. Also, this was just a normal 5k around here and they had like 1700 people, that's crazy. FYI: that's a 1/3 of the people at Tufts.

So the gun goes off and people are hammering. A substantial group at the front was surely looking to cash in on the Fred Smoot Smack Down challenge; 80 dollars to the leader at the mile. At about 800m in I was in about 8th place and running about 4:35 pace. After that I slowed down a little and hit the mile in about 4:40. (Now, it's up for debate as to the accuracy of this mark, because I didn't think my second mile was all that slow and I went through in 9:45. For those of you doing math at home, that's a 5:05 second mile. I don't think so.) The Smack Challenge was won by former NY high school standout Kevin Tschirhart in 4:25 with Steve Crane (the race winner) a stride behind. As it was I got off the line too fast, I didn't need a sub 4:30 to completely trash my race.

So, as I said I went through 2-miles in 9:45 and was in fourth place. I got real close to Robbie at this point, but I could never quite get right on his shoulder. He would hang on to third and I would hang on to fourth as I finished in 15:29. Overall this was a solid effort and a step forward. I cooled down four miles and tried to avoid the free Bud-Light they were handing out at finish area. I think that was a good life decision as we don't know what happened to Robbie for our long run the next morning. In hindsight I wish I had gone out a little easier and tried to work the second mile more, but hey when Fred Smoot calls, you answer.

July 20th - 26th
Sun: 14 Miles, after the Rockville 8k this run was on a short turnaround, and it was unbelievably hot, I was lucky to survive this run.
Mon: 10.5 miles, easy run
Tue: 10.5 miles, easy run
Wed: 10.5 miles total, take down workout, 1600-4:47 (400m-2min rest), 1200-3:32 (400m-2min rest), 800-2:17 (400m-2min rest), 600-1:39(400m rest), 400-62 (200m rest), 2x200-30 (200m rest)
Thur: 12 miles, easy run, unbelievable weather (in a good way)
Fri: 10.5 miles, easy run
Sat: 10 miles total, 5k in Crystal City 15:29
Total: 78 Miles