Last Race of the Year?... Possibly. A New P.R... Definitely.

When I got up Sunday morning and stepped out the door, I wasn't too excited to be running in a race that morning. It was WINDY... and when I say WINDY, I mean EXTREMELY WINDY. I wanted to turn right around and crawl back into bed. I didn't want to deal with what felt like gale force winds that day. It was going to be hard enough running a 15k race two weeks after running the best marathon of my life... I mean, heck... who knew if my legs had fully recovered from that hard effort of October 11th? Well, we would soon find out. I told myself to suck it up and give it a go. I have been in Madison for over 14 years, but this was the first time I had ever participated in the UW Fall 15k. I had always wanted to do it, but the timing just never worked out. The last time I had done a 15k was two years ago in Milwaukee, and like then, I was two weeks removed from running a marathon. Back then, I had a pretty decent effort by running the 9.3 mile course in a little and hour and nine minutes. Not bad for coming off a marathon... in fact I remember being extremely satisfied for being able to average around 7:30 per mile that day, also in windy conditions. My only other 15k prior to that was back in 2002 when I ran that same Milwaukee course and probably averaged around 7:15 to 7:30 per mile for the race. One thing I knew Sunday though, was that even though I had basically taken it easy since the my marathon of October 11th, I knew I was still in infinitely better shape than those previous two times and that I had a good chance of getting my 7th PR of the year in seven different races. The wind was going to make it difficult, though. Not knowing the course layout, I was ever hopeful that the wind would be at my back a good portion of the time. The race started pretty much right at 9am and the wind had picked up even more since I had left my apartment. After the horn sounded, I was off in my orange racing shoes in my 10th road race of the year. The wind was somewhat in my face at the start but I honestly didn't feel it. I was too busy trying to gauge how my legs felt those first few hundred yards, and honestly, they felt pretty darn good. I was able get into a nice rhythm and set my body on cruise control pretty much right away. I hit the first mile mark at around 6:22 and felt very strong in doing it. Again, I was extremely pleased with how my legs felt, especially given the windy condtions. I hit the 5k mark at a little over 20 minutes and was still feeling pretty good. My pace had slowed a touch but that was ok... I knew it would a little bit because I had gone out fairly hard at the beginning. When I hit the 10k point in the course, I knew I was on pace for an extremely good time, well below my previous two 15k races. At the 10k mark, I came through at roughly 40 minutes and 30 seconds for a 6:31 pace average. I just had to hold on for another 3.1 miles. The next mile went pretty quickly. A couple of Movin' Shoes employees who I work with passed me around the 10k mark and I worked off them for the next mile or so which really payed some dividends. My 7th mile split was the fastest of the day for me at 6:12. After that, I started to fade just a touch with having to deal with the wind, a couple hills, and just generally feeling a bit tired. I didn't crash and burn, though. I finished up pretty strong and came across the line with a new PR of 1:00:45 and averaging 6:31 per mile. I was pretty proud of myself, to say the least, with having to deal with the wind and just being two weeks removed from a marathon. I really couldn't have hoped for anything better. I also had my third top 20 finish in a row by placing 17th out of 202 runners. It was a good way to end what will possibly be my last road race of the year. I won't say that for sure but with the road racing schedule in Wisconsin dwindling because of the colder weather coming, there really isn't much out there that peaks my interest. We'll see, though. Something might come up. I'll never say never. If it doesn't happen though, what a way to end my racing for 2008... my 7th PR in seven different race distances. Don't know if I'll ever top that one... I'll always try, though.

MY SPLITS FOR THE RACE

• Mile 1 - 6:22
• Mile 2 - 6:32
• Mile 3 - 6:34
• Mile 4 - 6:48
• Mile 5 - 6:36
• Mile 6 - 6:36
• Mile 7 - 6:12
• Mile 8 - 6:45
• Mile 9 - 6:35
• Mile 9.3 - 1:00:45

Yesterday's race: 15k > 1:00:45 > 6:31 pace

Miles last week: 29.3