'Twas the Night Before...

Time: 7:53 + 68:09
Distance: ?? + 11.08 miles (12+ total)
Pace: ??, 6:09
Splits: 7:04, 6:50, 6:39, 6:30, 6:28, 6:23, 6:12, 5:41, 5:21, 5:18, 5:13, :29

I wasn't originally going to run today because when I woke up in Santa Rosa it was raining and I didn't think that I would be able to find the time later in the day. Instead I made breakfast for my mom and messed around on the intertubes (thanks Tarpy for clarifying). Maybe I messed around "in" the intertubes, at this point it's too early to tell whether or not it's "in" or "on."

The drive over to Elk Grove was going to uneventful until some d-bag rear ended us along Hwy 12. As expected, the initial impact was jarring but both my mom and I were okay, as were the people who did the crashing. When we got out of the car I was certain that the bumper was going to have a huge ass dent in it, but to everybody's amazement there wasn't any sign of damage. Could this be a holiday miracle? Probably not. I opened and closed the trunk a couple of times to make sure nothing was eff'd up and it all seemed to be working fine. Despite Toyota recently posting its first loss in the company's history, they can sure make a pretty freakin' sturdy and fuel efficient vehicle. Thanks Prius.

We arrived in Elk Grove a few ticks before 4:00 pm and the weather was much improved since this morning. I felt a little conflicted on whether to take Gebresalassie's training advice or Wanjiru's:

"We had to stay in the Sheraton next to Heathrow but when we arrived it was about 11 o'clock in the evening and the middle of the winter. It was impossible to train outside.

"I started to think about how I could train and then I noticed that my hotel corridor was very long. I put on my shoes and started to run up and down it, and then some of my friends joined me.

"By that time it was close to midnight and people started to come out of their rooms to look at us. Do you know what happened? They all thought it was an emergency and started following us. One old woman was shouting and running down the corridor in her pyjamas." --Marathon WR Holder Haile Gebresalassie

Other than that, I run about 15 km at 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning before I have breakfast. I'd say it's like jogging, or a buildup to something like a pace run. I start around 4 minutes per km, drop it down to 3:30 in the middle, then end up down at about 3 minutes 5 seconds. I always want to finish thinking, "Aaaaah, that felt great. I had a good run." I never do any strength training. You can get enough strength from running on cross-country-type courses. Sundays are off, and if it rains I also take the day off from training. If you train too hard in the summer it's bad for your body. --Marathon Olympic Gold Medalist Sammy Wanjiru.

I decided that it would be best for me to put on my running costume and I was out the door just as the rest of the family was arriving. I started slowly along the wide but holiday traffic filled roads until I noticed that Mr. Garmin was acting up again. I think this is the third run in a row that he has given me problems. I timed 7:53 without the satellites working so the distance and pace weren't registering. I stopped, got back on the grid and reset the run.

I ran down a long straight road that was flanked by new housing developments and a school. I could see Hwy 99 ahead and some ballpark lights in the distance. I figured the park ahead was the one where I ran the Run 4 Independence on July the 4th a few years back. **Enter flashback** I believe the race was my first "professional" race following my senior year at Brown. That summer I was still fit coming off the track season and was trying to figure out what I was going to do in the fall. Road whoring seemed to be the best option at the time and this race offered a decent purse. At the time I was in better shape to run the mile than anything else but I needed to try my hand at the 10k in order to win some greenback$. The race ended up being competitive because 4 guys, myself included, showed up hoping to cherry-pick the prize. A group of four (Bryce Lighthall, Pat Boivin, some other dude and I) went out hard through two miles. We all glanced around the pack as we approached the 5k turnoff because the winner of the shorter race would get $100, but 3rd place in the 10k received something like $150. Since none in our group of 4 took the turn, one unlucky road whore was going to be left out of the cash. After missing the mile split none of us knew how fast we were running, but when we crossed two miles at 9:35, the nameless dude immediately backed off and was out of the dough. I battled with Lighthall and Boivin for the remainder of the race and actually fell off with a mile to go before rallying back to take second. The time remains as my 10k pr which isn't too bad considering how the second half of the race was tactical and the first two miles were quick for my fitness at the time. **Exit flashback**

I ran along Hwy 99 looking for a way to get across and had to run a few miles past a new mall that looked stalled in its development. I took a wrong turn into a neighborhood that I thought would lead somewhere and was getting frustrated as it was getting dark. I needed to get back to the house to spend some quality time with the family but more importantly to stuff food down my throat. After finally finding the park it was time to pick up the pace and get back home. The pace started to fly as I was running down Elk Grove Blvd and into the headlights of holiday travelers. I kept pushing just trying to get in a hard effort. I used to run like this back in high school when I would finish training runs nearly at race pace. I could argue both for and against running in such a way but tonight it was necessary and I felt good doing it. I misjudged the turnoff a few times thinking that it was just up ahead and when it wasn't I put my head down and increased the pace more. I was surprised that when I checked my splits after the run to see I posted a 5:13. I'll have to adjust the training for the rest of the week because of this run, but for now I'll take it. It was good to just get in a run when I wasn't planning on stepping foot out the door this morning.