First 3 miles since the marathon. Left foot hurts, like hell... just like the day after the marathon. I guess I'm not fully recovered yet. Though I ran an 8:30 pace, and it felt easy. Tomorrow is speedwork. I have decided to run a 5K in Columbia (home town) in February instead of repeating the Folly Beach race. I will also have an extra week to prepare.

Kiawah Island Marathon Race Report

Goal time: sub 4-hour, 9 min/mile.

I got up at 3am in Columbia, because I had a 2 hour 30 minute drive to Kiawah Island on the coast. Staying on the island was way over our budget, and staying in Charleston wouldn't have made a huge difference about when to get up. But this was OK: I had time to have a big breakfast, etc. At 4am, I got into the car, and I drove to Kiawah. I parked the car at around 6:15, dressed up in the car (shorts, T-shirt and my sport sweatshirt with zipper, and a cap), packed my small backpack (some food, Gatorade, etc.), and I got on the shuttle to the island. This was a bit interesting, because there was only one road to the island, which was totally jammed, so it was around 7:00am, when we got off the bus on the island. I'm not sure how everyone made it to the 8:00 start.

I had time to pick up my bib (no line!), bathroom (long line, but nothing compared to the ladies'), and have some sandwich and Gatorade. Then I ventured to the start at 7:45. I linen up at exactly the 9 min/mile board. This turned out to be a bit of an issue later, because incredibly, I passed about 500 people in the first two miles, who apparently had no idea how to line up. This is actually a really bad thing, because it will encourage me to line up ahead of my goal in my following marathons. I had some small talk with some people, but mostly, I just focused.

At exactly 8:00am, the officials started the race. We only started running maybe 30 second later, and it took us almost two minutes to pass the start line. The first two miles were quite crowded, and I just tried to not waste too much energy on winding around people. Still, as I mentioned, I passed *many* people, including some walkers!

Mile 1 - 9:09
Mile 2 - 8:52

It looks like the crowd wasn't that big of a problem after all. If it wasn't for them, I might have gone out too fast!

Mile 3 - 8:50
Mile 4 - 8:48

I didn't stop for Gatorade until mile 4. I found the aid stations way too crowded, besides I didn't want to stop for bathroom break. I didn't realize until mile 4, that I forgot to bring a straw. So I just stopped for 10 seconds to drink.

Mile 5 - 8:42

Before the 6th mile marker, there was another aid station, where I decided to be adventurous, and try to drink while running. I had read all about it. So I tried the technique (squeeze the top of the cup and drink from the side), and it worked! It was so easy, I was wondering why anyone has trouble with it. By this time, the crown thinned out, and I was running comfortably. I took off my cap and unzipped my sweatshirt.

Mile 6 - 8:19

This mile marker was almost surely early on the course. I had to hold myself back, and I freaked out a bit when I saw this split.

Mile 7 - 9:37

As I said, this mile was "long".

Mile 8 - 8:59
Mile 9 - missed the marker
Mile 10 - 17:25
Mile 11 - missed the marker
Mile 12 - missed the marker
Mile 13 - 26:48

I was in a groove. I drank Gatorade at every aid station. The end of the first loop was on a golf cart path, and it was again a bit crowded. I don't understand why they have to start the half and the full marathon at the same time.

Mile 14 - 8:57

Finally we got rid of the half marathon runners. My legs started to hurt a bit. We had to run on the right side of a road, and maybe because I mostly train running on the left side, it didn't feel great.

I picked a woman, who seemed to have run my pace, and she looked like an experienced runner (how do you tell?). I decided to pace off of her.

Mile 15 - 9:09

Shoot, she is too slow! I passed her and went ahead. I started to pass runners.

Mile 16 - 9:01
Mile 17 - 8:49
Mile 18 - 9:17
Mile 19 - 9:03

I didn't feel great here. The effort seemed to be harder than what the splits reflected. I also started to be afraid of the wall. Especially, because the longest I had ever run was 20 miles.

Then I saw here again. The woman I passed at mile 15. How did she pass me? She was like 300 feet ahead of me, but I recognized her by her unusual stride. What should I do? I am almost at mile 20, I feel fine, maybe I can pick up the pace just a little.

Before the next mile marker, I pulled her back - it wasn't her. :)

Mile 20 - 8:36
Mile 21 - 8:31
Mile 22 - 8:38

These miles were magical. I experienced a runner's high that never before. I felt I was flying. It felt like running was no effort. I was smiling to everyone, even laughing out loud at one point. I felt an incredible euphoria, and I I was one with nature.

Mile 23 - 8:40
Mile 24 - 8:37

The high was gone, but I still felt fine. I did perceive the effort though, which got harder and harder. I still passed many people. I felt for the ones, who I saw struggling, or stopping for walking.

Mile 25 - 8:28
Mile 26 - 8:13

I couldn't believe it was only a little more than a mile left. It was a rather long one, but I hadn't crashed, and in fact, I felt almost liberated. After halfway to the next marker a runner, who I passed asked me: "How much longer?" I cheerfully answered: "About a half of a mile." He groaned and stopped running.

We tuned into the finish line. The crowd was amazing. It was an emotional moment for me. I saw the finish clock turning 3:53 - it was great. I passed the line, smiled, got my medal and a plastic warmer sheet. I went to the bathroom and I called my wife.

My chip time is 3:51:24, with 1:57:19 at the half point. I am absolutely satisfied with this especially because I was able to finish strong. I probably could have achieved a better time if I started out faster, but this was my first time ever running more than 20 miles, so I didn't want to risk crashing. But at least I know that I am not nearly close to my potential.

I don't plan to run another marathon for at least a year. I want to concentrate on shorter distances while I'm still relatively young, and I want to run a sub-20 minute 5K in the near future, optimally in 2010. But if I'm still healthy after that, I'll be back to the marathon distance.

My real life is crazy this week, and I'm running a marathon in 3 days. If the weather forecast is right, it will be raining (ugh...). I feel good, but I do have some weird pains here and there. I run 5 miles easy today, 2 miles *very* easy on Friday, and Saturday is the big day!

I did a second 20-mile run a week ago, and it went much better than the last one. I did get tired, but I ran negative splits (my late miles were faster than the early ones), and my last mile was the fastest of all. I needed this run very much to boost my confidence (as well as for physical endurance training).

Last week we took a little 3-day trip to the mountains of South Carolina. I still managed to get almost all my miles in. (Except for the last 2 miles of a 6-miler one night on a treadmill in the hotel - that was Thanksgiving night, and my gastrointestinal tract didn't like running after the feast.) It has still been a hard week with 39 miles total, and up until the long run it was one of the hardest weeks of training. The long run, yesterday, was only 15 miles, and it felt really easy. I had to hold myself back and constantly remind myself that I shouldn't exhaust myself in training. I have to start to save for the marathon, which is in two weeks.

The race reports from Runner's World's Marathon challengers have started to flow in after weekend's Richmond Marathon. [here]
To tell the truth, it is quite a bit scary, that many, if not most of these people, who used the same training program as I, crashed and burned in the marathon, and ran much slower races than they wanted to. OK, the journalists of Runner's World were fine, maybe even great, but I'm talking about the individuals, who bought into the training program (see the "Comments" section). AFAIK they used the same plan that was published in the magazine, and they received all kinds of additional benefits.

Am I going to be OK?...

To add to my fears, my left shin is not perfect. It doesn't hurt as much as it used to, when I skipped those 5 days of training, but it does hurt a bit when I start to run, for the first 6 miles or so. When the run is less then 6 miles (like yesterday, 5 miles), it hurts all way. But I can't afford to skip more training, especially, because it doesn't seem to cure my shin splint. I just suck it up and train on it.

Have I become a maniac? Last night I did my mile repeats at the university track in POURING HEAVY RAIN. The water from above wouldn't affect me that much, but it was less pleasant to run in occasionally ankle deep cold water - and I had to run some relatively fast laps (1:49/400 meters), and a lot of them! (16 fast laps and 20 slower ones - 2:15/400 meters). I was circling the track in the dark, in the rain, for one hour and fourteen minutes.

Fortunately my left shin seems to be holding up. Nevertheless, I won't play with fire and I'll keep myself to the 10% decrease in mileage I decided a few days ago.

I retired my Asics shoes after last night's run. I was a worthy last training for them. It's time to pull out my Adidas pair that I bought months ago in a sale!

The thing that most runners fear the most: injury. I had a sore set of muscles in my left shin, close to my knee, that didn't go away from one run to the other. It usually got better during the run, disappearing at around the third mile, and then later, at around the sixth mile. Then I ran 7 miles last Tuesday, and the pain stayed with me for the whole run, and it got to point that I couldn't maintain correct form at the beginning, because of the severe pain.

I had a rest day on Wednesday, but the pain didn't really seem to get better by Thursday, so I reluctantly admitted that I was injured. I skipped the rest of last week, finishing the week with an appalling 11 miles.

Man, did it feel great to run 6 miles this morning! I got up at 5am, so I could finish my hour long run before my daughter was about to go to school at 7am. I hate to get up early, but now I feel like the drug addict who got his fix.

I decided to make some changes in the training plan. I keep the paces, but I reduced the length of each run by about 10%. This way I will peak at about 45 miles, which is not much more than last healthy week (43 miles). I only have two weeks of hard training left before the taper sets in, and I will do it with virtually no increase in mileage. My longest run will be another 20-miler, instead of 22. I did a 20 mile run last weekend, during which I got dehydrated, and it was *miserable*. (I suffered for the last 5 miles and I had to walk a good portion at the end. It may have contributed to my injury.)

It is clear that I have to forget about any goal less than 4 hours. I'll just shoot for 4 hours. In fact, now I see that I probably started marathon training a little early. I would have largely benefited from building a more solid base in fall, and then prepare for a spring, and even a 2010 fall marathon. But that's too late, I'm running Kiawah in a month, and I'm not backing off now. Most of the training is already in.

After that I already have a plan of running the "Save the Light 5K" in February, and I will try to win my age group with a time less than 21 minutes. After that I'll spend some more time on 5K races, trying to get under 20 minutes eventually, and then, I will get back to longer distances.

Here is my usual weekly report. I'm up to 41 miles per week, with my long run being 18 miles (29 km). I got a little tired at the end, but it went fine. My pace fell to 9:30 min/mile, but I should be OK as long as it is at most 10:00 min/mile. 20 miles coming this weekend.

Speed workouts are great, though I really hate the many mandatory warmup/cooldown laps, because it is really boring (it's why I hate swimming in swimming pools). I ran 10 laps for warmup and 9 laps for cooldown yesterday. In between I ran 6x800 meters with 400 m recovery in between: my 800s were all below 3:30, which is promising, as I still kept myself to the required pace for a 3:30 marathon. Nevertheless, I don't think I'm capable of running 3:30, but at least I'm more and more confident that I can run 4 hours.

Training is fine. I'm in week 9 out of 16 now. I've just started speed training today: 12800 meters on the track, out of which 3x1600 meters is fast (7:16 goal time for 1600 meters) and 400 meters recoveries in between. The rest is warmup and cooldown. Altogether that is 32 laps. It was quite boring: I was running around for more than an hour. But I did hit my goal pace every time, so things are good.

So many people run so much better, hobby runners doing marathons in under 3 hours, it seems like a sub-4 hour goal is lame... Anyway, I'm on track. Achilles is still acting up, but my cold is gone, and I did a nice hill workout yesterday. This week will be step back in mileage from 37 last week. Easy workouts are only 4 milers and the long run is mere 14 miles.

It is raining every day here, but I still managed to catch a rain free window every day. No treadmill running yet, fortunately. If it is not too cold outside, I would rather run in the rain. But if its cold and rainy, that's a bad combination.

Week 6 of the training is done, the marathon is in 10 weeks.

I had this dilemma about the my goal pace, and the last decision was to settle for sub-4:00, but I still trained like I would prepare for 3:30. I was sort of expecting to blow out, because if I'm only capable of a 4-hour marathon at this time, I thought that a 3:30-goal-pace training would result in overtraining and fatigue. I was ready to feel the effects by week 3-4 and then I thought I would switch back to a 4:00-pace training.

Instead, training went quite well. I was tired occasionally, but it is natural. In fact, I decided to shift all my training one day ahead (that would be much better for schedule) by skipping a rest day. I did that, but then I got sick (basically the same day I ran on my rest day - so it didn't have anything to do with training), and I had to skip the following day. After all, I stayed on schedule. (I intend to skip my rest day today.)

Yesterday I had my "predictor" 5K on the university track. Still having some chest congestion, and after a 30-mile week, I headed to the track. I ran 3200 meters before the actual test. So keep in mind: this was no regular 5K. If was after a long and hard week, I was still a bit sick, and I ran 3200 meters just before the actual test. Then I set off for 5000 meters, and I clocked 21:44. I am more than satisfied with this. This proves that I don't overtrain, and in fact predicts a sub-3:30 marathon.

No, I still don't think I can do that. But I think I can keep training for it. We'll see what's happening on marathon day. There are too many variables.

It is pouring rain today, and I still have a lingering cough, but I'm skipping my rest day today to get an easy 4 miles in.

Fourth week of marathon training is finished. No injuries. (Phew!) Long runs on the weekends were 6, 9, 12 and 10 miles, respectively. The 6 was easy (of course), the 9 was OK, the 12 was hard-ish, the 10 (yesterday) was easy. I was a little sore this morning, but I could run today with no problems (I won't - I have a rest day).

26.2 miles *still* sounds intimidating. Still, my longest run ever was the 13.5 miles on June 20. I have 12 weeks and I have to build enough fitness to even finish a marathon without walking! For me the definition of walking is taking more than 10 minutes to complete a mile. So I think for my first marathon, I will not aim for 3:30. It is too risky. I think I will go out running 9 minute miles (4:00 pace), and if I feel awesome at mile 20, I will speed up.

I have this schizophrenic feeling that I run at speeds that are suitable for a 3:30 marathon goal, yet, I don't believe at all that I can run a mile in 8 minutes - and repeat it 26 times! It is too intimidating to even think about it. 9 minutes/mile - therefore a 4 hour marathon - that seems somewhat reasonable - but then I would need to train at speeds that are uncomfortably slow for me. Maybe once I get to the 20-mile long runs, I can slow down...

I am close to the end of the second week of training and everything is fine. My left foot is acting up again - this time it is more like a plantar fasciitis - but it is isn't too bad, so I won't take a break. I bought a really cool pair of Adidas shoes on Amazon for $40!

It's probably less than ideal that most of my training is on very hilly course, and my marathon will be completely flat. But what can I do? Now that we moved we have hills everywhere around us.

This week I will achieve the ~28 mile week, which was my most miles in a week previously in the beginning of June, close to the end of my half marathon training. Next week I will be at or above 30. Cool!

I haven't run for more than a week now, deliberately. I wanted to give my body a break before I start to train for the marathon. Training starts today with easy 4 miles: without the speed work and somewhat slower paces, this week (and the first few) look definitely easier than the rigorous 5K training I did for my last race. I have a few easy 4 milers, a hilly 6-miler (I think) and a 7-mile long run in the weekend.

My Achilles problems are pretty much gone, thank god! Though I haven't run, I rode my bike at least an hour every day, sometimes over hard, hilly course. It is easy for me, because I again commute by bike and now we live more than 6 miles from campus.

This week was the longest break (by far) I took from running since last December. It was hard for the first few days, but I got used to it. Maybe I *could* quit running! :) For now I'm very excited that I am turning into the finish line for my marathon goal.

There was a question at sign-up about my goal time. I gave 3:30. According to most running calculators, I should be able to achieve that time, but it's not that clear that I can do it on first attempt. I will start training with that goal pace in mind, and I may modify it later if it feels too hard.

Prosperity's Hoppin' 5K Race Report

This was a morning race out of town, and since we didn't travel, it meant getting up at 5:30 this morning. My training didn't go too well in the last two weeks: busy schedule, and we MOVED two weeks ago (how did I not think of that when I signed up for this race?). I skipped some important training runs, I had low weekly mileage, and I didn't get nearly enough sleep and nutrition. I didn't feel in great form, so I didn't have high hopes for the race, still, I just *had to* aim for 21 minutes.

I got to Prosperity (SC) a bit late: it was 7:40 when I parked my car, and the 5K was supposed to start at 8:00. By the time I picked up my packet and pinned on my bib, it was almost too late to start to warm up. I had a nervous warm up with a bathroom break and I found myself mentally unprepared at the start line. This was a small local race and I knew many of the runners, so I knew how to line up.

Before I knew we were running. Except for a few local young kinds, who went out way too fast, the field got arranged into a stable configuration. I picked a small group for pacing myself of them. Soon they slimmed to two people: a young kid, and a woman about my age (33). I was OK for the first mile, but my legs were just not perfect. I passed a guy who slowed down, and maybe another few runners, still following my "pacing group" at a distance of five to ten meters. It was a challenge to keep up with them, but it was doable: this suggested that their pace was perfect.

Prosperity is lovely little town, and it is little all right: we had to run back and forth to do 5 kilometers within the town. At one point, we ran a stretch backwards, where some folks were still coming in the opposite direction. We passed the 2.5 kilometers sign (apart from this one, there were signs for 4 km, and 4.5 km only), my time was exactly 10:30, which was giving me some hope.

My pacing group of two broke up, but they were still very close to each other, so I didn't have to
chose which one of them to follow until the 4 km mark, when I passed the kid and followed the woman. Unfortunately the kilometer markers were not very useful to me in terms of pacing.

We turned to the finish hill. Indeed, the finish line was on the top of the hill, the same hill that had the start line at its bottom! It wasn't a very long hill, though. A kid passed me up the hill, but then he slowed down (quite annoying), so I almost passed him back, but then he went elbow to elbow with me at the very narrow finish line. I let him go first: I didn't care too much about position, and he was clearly not in my age group. I also saw on the finish clock that I won't even PR here. My time was 21:28, 11 seconds off my PR and a disappointing 28 seconds off my goal.

I'm not sure what went wrong in the second half of the race. I didn't feel I was slowing down; or if I did, so did the other runners. I actually passed people. The hilltop finish certainly accounts for a few seconds, but it shouldn't be 28! Maybe the course was long, but it was USATF certified (a runner with Garmin said it was about 3.2 miles). Anyway, with the expectations I had, it still isn't too bad.

Especially because the field was small (86 runners), so I had a nice surprise: I won my age group. I received a nice medal. I wish I really deserved it with a sub-21 time, but I'll try to make good on it next year.

We moved to a new place and I still haven't quite figured out the best places to run around this neighborhood. Today I'll do some cross training on the bike, and meanwhile I'll try to find good running routes.

I should be thinking about my 5K, which is less than a week from now, but I'm too excited (and too scared) about the marathon in December. I spent a non-refundable $91 on the registration, so it is too late to back off now.

It's a done deal now: I've signed up for the Kiahaw Island Marathon on December 12th. It will be held on the exclusive golf resort on the South Carolina coast. It's flat like a pancake, but it's long like a marathon. :)

I ran 7 miles today (just came back), and it was quite hard. Maybe because it was ninety-some degrees, and the path I ran on is sunny - with the heat index it was easily 100 F.

I run my long runs at goal pace of 9 min/mile. I start out at a slow, comfortable effort, and I don't change my pace and effort unless one of the following is satisfied:

1. My most recent mile split of my average is faster than 8:45. Then I slow down.
2. My most recent mile split is slower than 9:45 or the average is slower than 9:15 m/m. Then I speed up.

I allow myself to stop briefly if needed for bathroom, eating, drinking, people, traffic or extreme tiredness, as long as my average pace doesn't fall below 9:53.

Today pacing was quite good. I only had to modify my pace once: I ran mile 6 in 8:38, so I had to slow down.

Today (well, technically yesterday), I ran a 3000 race on the track for fun. It was steaming hot and humid today, but it went just fine. Especially, because I didn't train for this race at all. Just last Wednesday, a running partner of mine from the Wednesday running group talked me into participating - and I thought, what the heck, I swap my Thursday tempo run into Tuesday, I'll warm up, run the race, some more fast running, a cool down, and let's call it a tempo.

2009 Summer Track Series

Presented by Strictly Running & The Columbia Running Club

3000 meters Race Report

I arrived to the track well in time. That point, there was only another girl, who was about to run, so I sort of worried it would be a VERY small race. Later some more people decided to join in, so there were enough runners to occupy the waterfall line across the track - that is like 6 or 7.

I did four laps for warm up, which was a little excessive in the hot weather, but I didn't want to compromise my 5K training. I still considered this to be just a regular tempo run - spiced with a little racing. I felt a bit of stiffness and muscle pain from last weeks high mileage, but it went away with the warm up. I was still sweating from my warm up when we lined up - then off we went.

The 3000 meters starts at the half of the track, because you run seven and a half laps. It immediately goes into a turn. I lined up politely around the middle of the track, but I soon had to realize that I started quite fast compared to the other runners. For the first half of the turn I tried to gauge who runs faster then I, so that I can settle behind the person. All this complication was, because (naturally) I wanted to go to lane 1, the shortest lane - at the moment, after half turn, I still ran in lane 2. Also, I was tied with the leading guy in lane 1, which actually means I was faster than him, because I ran the longer arc. That was when I decided to sprint ahead and occupy the first position.

My time goal was 12:12. McMillan running calculator gave this projected time using my best 5K. I knew it wasn't realistic to beat this time with the preparation, heat, etc. This meant 1:37-1:38 laps.

My half lap time was right on spot. I continued pacing myself carefully. It worked very well, I ran the first few laps at around 1:35-1:38/lap.

There was a serious runner in the field - a high school track runner - but today, he also just raced for fun. He was breathing on my neck for the first few laps. It was a little annoying for one, and I also though how great it would be if he was in front of me, and I could pace myself of him. So at the end of lap 3, I slowed a bit, and let him go. At the exact same moment, he accelerated, and I couldn't follow him. Great. Pain and tiredness started to kick in. It was OK, as long as I didn't remind myself how many laps are left. (We were only halfway!)

I tried to keep our distance limited - not that I had any hope of beating him, but I thought I could run a great time, if I kept close to him. He pulled away for about one lap, but not too far. Our distance grew until about lap 6 to maybe 30 meters. Meanwhile, I slowed down a bit clocking 1:38-1:40/lap. The pain started to become unbearable. However, I was still breathing on pattern.

In lap 6 I tried to accelerate, or at least not to slow down any more. That time I also discovered, that the high school runner didn't increase his lead any more. In fact he seemed to slow down a bit. Before we passed the line that marked the starting of the last lap, I was no more than 20 meters behind him. That was about that same time when my rhythmic breathing fell apart. Torturous pain wandered in every piece of my body, but I had my reward: now I was breathing on the guys neck. At about 200 meters to go he pulled to lane 2 (very polite!) and I passed him. I kept accelerating. I lapped a slow girl the second time. (She didn't pull to lane 2, so I had run around her, which ISN'T nice, considering she was lapped!) I turned to the final straight, I kicked, I sprinted, and I won the race.

I though I would die afterwards, but I didn't even throw up! :) My time was 12:09, which shows that my pacing was quite good! I was completely satisfied. Even though this is not a spectacular time, this was probably the best I could run today. The organizers told me how much they enjoyed watching the race - with a last lap overtaking for the first place. Pretty cool!

I actually ran the other two races (600 meters and 1600 meters), but not nearly as hard. Then I ran a little cool down to finish a total 8000 meters for my workout. It was a good day!

6 x 400 meters yesterday afternoon on the track, plus 1600 meters warm-up, 1600 cool-down and of course the usual 400 meters of recovery between two 400 sprints. I did most sprints in about 1:30. In fact my times were very consistent: 1:33, 1:33, 1:28, 1:32, 1:33, 1:30. I felt great, young, and I wasn't too tired at the end. Today, I feel rested, recovered. I think I'm getting really good (compared to my old self). Unless something unexpected will happen, I bet I will knock down a sub-20-minute 5 kilometers before the end of next year.

If only I could lose that stupid belly fat! I now weigh 163 lbs (74 kg), which - on one hand - sounds really good, because I weighed the same in 2000. (And at one point about 2 years ago I was 85 kg.) I used to climb the peaks of the mountain Bakony in Hungary on my mountain bike weighing 75 kg. But I am more competitive now. I wish I had zero extra fat to carry. I think my ideal weight would be around 70 kg.

What a weird tempo run yesterday! I'm back to running my tempos in the Christine Luff way. That is (for yesterday), 1 mile at 8:45 min/mile, 2.5 at 7:16, 1 mile at 8:45. The first mile was perfect, though I felt slightly sluggish. The second mile was 7:13: close to perfect, just 3 seconds faster than required, but a difference that small doesn't warrant any change in pace. When I went on, I was very surprised to see that my second fast mile was quite a bit faster than I thought. I slowed down a bit, but I still did that mile in 7:07. That is way too fast! I was a bit tired by then, but still perfectly OK, I was still breathing at my usual 2 steps in, 2 steps out. I thought I was slowing down a bit, especially, because it felt I didn't work too hard. I tried to keep my pace, and it was OK until the last 200 meters, when suddenly I had a bad side stitch, my breathing collapsed, and I had hard time keeping my pace on that 200 meters. Then I pushed the "split" button on my watch, and I was utterly surprised to see that I did that last half mile in 3:25! I was the fastest on that stretch!

The sudden tiredness took effect on the last slow mile, and I only got home in 8:57. It is still fine for an uphill mile.

It is amazing that I did the middle fast stretch in 17:45, which is a pace of 7:06 min/mile. That used to be my PR pace on 5K! It felt almost comfortable until the last 200 meters. All this on a Thursday night, after a long, hard workday, with two days of hard and relatively hard running previously.

I think I'm getting into terrific shape. I might have a shot to run close to 20 minutes on August 15 (that would be a dream). If only I could shed that extra 5-10 pounds of fat that I have on me.

Also, I've become to to believe that one day, I will be able to BQ (that is, qualify for the Boston Marathon). When I started to run, I just wanted to finish a marathon. Of course, I needed a specific time goal, because just walking much of the course, or being extremely slow is not hard at all, so it is not a challenge. That was when I decided on 4 hours. BQ for me would be 3:10 for next April, which is still hopeless; after that a time of 3:15 would qualify me for April 2011 (because I'll be 35 in April 2011). That may not be impossible next fall or later.

Nowadays every wuss runs a marathon. They crawl through it in 6 hours and they call themselves marathon runners! This is very annoying and it takes away from the weight of these words : "I ran a marathon". But to qualify for Boston? That still means to be part of a VERY select group.