Who Steals a Shirt on Easter?!?

Time: 112:39
Distance: 18.03 miles
Pace: 6:15
Splits: 7:39, 6:56, 6:48, 6:43, 6:33, 6:27, 6:22, 6:19, 6:10, 5:57, 5:57, 5:50, 5:58, 5:51, 5:45, 5:57, 5:46, 5:30
Map

Notice something about those splits? Pretty pace savvy right?

Meagan dropped me off at the Boyce entrance to McAlpine Park this morning and I was all geared up to run long. After yesterday's track meet overload I was ready to be back on the casual run. I had a bit of grandma's asthma this morning after the wine bar and Fish Tacos with Jeff, Melanie and Meagan. I forgot to mention yesterday that Meagan, Tanya and I drove to Furman University to watch Mike Crouch and Blake Boldon run in the Blue Shoes Mile in the afternoon. It was a bit of a long time in the car for 4:00 minutes of racing, but it was great to see a sub-4 minute mile (scroll about halfway down the page).

My run started very easy as I ran into the back portion of the park where all the Mexicans were playing official league soccer games. It was very intense and had a good athletic atmosphere. No Mexican soccer match would be complete without the ice cream salesman pushing a cart with a bell. I was tempted to stop several times to pick up a fruit popsicle. Luckily I didn't have any money on me.

I made several loops on what I thought was the Footlocker South XC Course. Turns out I was making a slightly wrong turn, but regardless I was getting in about a 3 mile loop. Mr. Garmin recorded all of my splits and I could tell my legs were a bit lethargic. The upper body was relaxed and comfortable and I just let the legs drop the pace throughout. Around 9 miles I started to intentionally force the pace a bit more. I struggled to run faster than 6 mins/mile but I wasn't too concerned with it.

The run was a solid way to cap off the weekend of training and a good way to start my Easter. I had one minor setback with some d-bag who decided to nick my OK Runner Brookhaven Run Award Winner Brooks Shirt. This is the second Brooks Podium shirt that I have lost in one week. Last week I gave a kid my shirt at the start line of Red Bud so that was my fault.

You can check out how the rest of the day was spent in Freedom Park with some good friends on Meagan's blog.