thawed out

After waiting since November to get out to Argonne last week marked the first time out there in almost 8mths. Those not familiar with it should know its 9.8m of rolling hills and crushed limestone. The goal was 2+ loops and to do it as a Boston simulator. The regular loop features the first 2m of some climbing then mostly some longer downhills from 3-6 then some climbing from 7-9. The plan was to just chill out, log the time and do one regular loop with the downs then reverse directions and do the long climbing.

The morning greeted us with 37degrees and a light wind and i was a bit worried i was undressed with short tights and a 1/2 zip but after the first loop i was burning up as the day got progressively nicer. Accompanying me on this run were old EIU teammates Andy Derks and John Sipple. The first mile is long by about 20-30sec but below are the splits:

8:02, 7:10, 7:06, 7:27(had to run on traintracks due to flooding), 6:47, 6:53, 7:03, 6:48, 6:48, 3:51, 3:57, 6:54, 6:51, 6:54, 6:45, 7:00(climb), 7:19(train tracks), 6:42, 6:35, 6:53(long) and 2:47 add on to hit 20m.

We ended up running 68/66 with a nice negative split despite hitting the wind and having the reverse direction being more difficult than the regular way. The best part of the run was there was no pain, no struggling and i felt full of run and could have kept going. The next day I was able to run normally and was completely recovered so these are all great signs. I'm still running thru Boston in trainers and a going to treat the run just like the above long run since the goal is to run fast this summer, not run a mediocre time in Boston. I just know despite being in good shape I'm not ready for the beating the course can dole out to you if you arent 100% prepared and to be honest I'm dead sick of having 6mths of running then 2mths of recovery. Breaking this cycle is something i need to do to keep running fun and positive.

Directly after the run I attended yet another college roommates wedding. I'm the last one not married off. It will probably stay this was as long as i keep bringing my ex-girlfriend to these and ignore the hot asian wedding party across the hall but making good decisions that relate to myself has never been my strongpoint. Do as i say....not as i do.






It was great seeing those cats for the first time in way too long and I'm sure we bored the hell out of everyone around us our decades old stories...good lord I'm getting old.

As for jams I'm seeing Miles Kurosky tomorrow night which should be fullfilling since i missed his old band bealuh when they toured Chicago in 2004 and broke up at the Abbey Pub.