Lightning Workout

Time: 69:11
Distance: 10.75 miles

W/u: 24:20 for 3 miles
W/o: 12 x 400m w/ 100m jog
C/d: 21:29 for ~3 miles

This morning I woke up to hear the wind howling outside and pushing garbage cans up the street. I had agreed to meet, Irv Batten, the owner of On The Run for a workout. I asked if I could join his Tuesday morning workout crew that goes off at 6:00 am from a track across the street from his store. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of such an early morning, but needed to get my training headed in the right direction.

I first hit the Starbucks near the store and as I was getting out of the car I saw a great flash of light in the sky. I paid it little attention until I was sipping my coffee at the track. The flashes continued and I realized I was in for a classic southeast storm. The rain, wind and lightning were headed our way and I still have 15 minutes to kill before the others would show up. I waited in my car and saw another guy drive up just as the rain started. It poured and eventually the other guy left right around the time that Irv rolled up. I through on my rain gear and had a quick chat with Irv about the weather. We decided to get in a warm up and make a game time decision on whether or not to workout.

During our warm up around the neighborhoods the skies dump water on us. The lightning was still off in the distance, though one strike seemed terribly close. Fortunately it was still in the upper 60s so we were comfortable in shorts and a light jacket. Upon returning to the track we ran one loop to see about the footing and opted to man up.

Splits:
78.8 (35), 78.8 (42), 79.8 (37), 77.8 (60),
78.2 (36), 78.2 (42), 76.0 (38), 75.8 (42),
76.3 (39), 76.3 (58), 74.8 (41), 71.8 for 23:15 total and 4.75 miles.

Irv led all of the odd splits and I took the even ones. The rain stopped by the third interval and the storm seemed to have passed. The lightning still illuminated the sky off in the far distance as the worse part had been avoided. I fell into a groove clicking off 5:00 to 5:08 pace for most of the intervals. It was fun being the only ones on the track as the rest of Irv's crew chickened out. He was already drafting the email in his head making fun of those wimps who didn't brave the weather. I'm pleased with the effort and glad the achilles held up.