All the miles, all the tinkering with form, the attention to detail up and down hills, all the sneaking around finding the shoes that fit me best. I find myself lining up these days with every intention of doing some damage in my age group.
I turned in a 22:24 at the local 5k this morning. That's slower than my last 5k when I snuck under the 22 minute mark. But this was a better performance and good enough for masters winner in a small field. The whole course is hills. Long steady grades up followed by what seemed to be steeper shorter declines. Lacking those long gradual falls where you can make time and conserve effort all at the same time. It was a steam bath out there too.
I think I'm ready to break 21 minutes the next non hilly course I get. 21:13 is my best right now on a flat course with perfect weather. But next in line for my goals is to run the downhill 10k in September in under 44 minutes. I think I've got it. Where I'm trying to get is where I can count on 7 minute miles through the 15k distance. That's the plateau I'm reaching for. And then we'll see how that translates to my first pikermi later in the fall. I'm having fun with it.
There's no room for having fun in running. What the heck is wrong with you.
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