Rough 9 Miler

This morning before a meeting, I headed out for my long run of the week: a 9 miler. It went OK. It could have been better - it could have been worse. I had mapped out a 9 mile route, and took off. I wanted to try to run the middle part of the run HARD (maybe about 30% through 70% of the way through the run).

I went out a little easier. I hit mile 1 in 6:30. (It's great how 2 years ago 6:30 was my "5K race pace," and today it was my "warm-up as part of a 9 miler pace!!!") I tried picking it up, but my heel was a little sore, and the bottom of my feet were still a little sore from Sunday's Oly in racing flats. Neither of those things should have slowed me down, but they shifted my focus a little too much.

I hit my turn around in 29:06. I worked hard on the way back, but it could have been harder. I ran my last full mile in 5:48, and ran the last half in 27:21, for a total of 56:27 (6:16 / mile). My heel was SORE, and that should have been faster. Last week, I did my 8 miler on that same course in 6:07/mile. I have some work to do over the next few weeks to be able to hit 60 in the TC 10 Mile.

In other news, Ironman Wisconsin is this weekend!!! Pharmie and I are going out to volunteer. If you'll be out there, we'd LOVE to meet up!! I don't know when the athlete's dinner is (the website didn't say), but we'll be out there for a quick meeting on Saturday at 4:00 pm. So I'm thinking we could meet at 4:30 pm on Saturday just outside of the Terrace. How about on the edge of all the action, between the finishline area and the Terrace: at the corner of Wilson and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, directly under the bulls-eye on this map:

The PLACE should stay the same, but check back because the TIME might change. Good luck athletes!! See you out there!!

UPDATE: Pharmie and I will probably have to leave around 4:45, but we could be back around 6 pm on Saturday night. So maybe a quick meet-up at 4:30ish for just a few minutes, but a longer meet-up possible at 6 on Saturday. Check back for more details.......