3.23.2012

Go Time Round 2

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, but I've been pretty busy this past week getting caught up after the trip.  Anyways, the race went really well on Friday (The Saturday meet was cancelled, so I didn't run the 800).  Once again, there was no problem getting into a groove to try and get after a fast time.  Perfect weather, perfect pacing, and it ended with a 4:00.06 for me.  In my last post, I made it pretty clear that I was fit and ready for a 1500 PB, but after the 1500 it was pretty apparent that I'm not quite sharp enough to beat 3:58.25 YET.  I got a little caught up in how well things were rolling that I sort of forgot that it was still the first week of what I hope will be a very long season.

I took a look back to my 1500 season openers in my past two years and realized that it always took at least a few races to get into the 4:05 range each year.  Those years ended with a 3:58, so that really put things in perspective.  Another way to look at this race is that I was almost exactly the same time that I ran at my final 1500 last year.  So to start where I left off last year is pretty exciting.  About 10 days from now, I'll be racing again at Willamette in Oregon.  I think it will be a 1500, which will be really exciting to get another crack at it.    A few pics from California below, you can click them for a larger image.

Team Picture in San Diego

Celebration after watching the UAA Basketball team win an NCAA Regional Championship 

The Granddaddy of Them All

The Rose Bowl

Downtown L.A. to catch a Kings/Wings Game

Chirpin'


San Diego Coastline

3.12.2012

Go Time

I ran a pretty solid one last night.  I was entered in my 2nd 5000, and if you recall on my blog last year I didn't have a very good outing the first time.  9:00 through 3k and a 6:31 last 2k to be exact.  But this time was different.  I went 8:57 and hung on better with 6:08 to finish in 15:05.  Of course there's a lot of work to be done if I want to sneak into some big races this year, but as a first race of the season and a sizable PB, I won't complain.   Another reason not to complain is the fact that I'm in Southern California for 10 days to get some fast races in the warm weather.

I'm racing again next week - a 1500 on Friday, and an 800 on Saturday.  I'm certainly looking for a couple more PB's next week, and there really won't be any excuses not to.  If any of you readers have ever attended the London Runner's distance races in the past, you know what a perfect race is like.  Tons of runners all looking to run fast times under the lights with no wind and perfect temperatures.  That's what it was like yesterday.  It's no wonder everyone comes to California every spring to run blazing fast times, it's perfect weather every single day.  There were 5 heats of men's 5000 runners each with 30 runners and there was definitely no sitting and kicking going on.  Just a bunch of dudes running really quick.  The Seawolves had some really solid performances last night and I'm going to start putting results up on the schedule/results page as soon as I get a hold of them.

I'll post another blog after next week's races - hopefully some big times to talk about!