Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Good Day for a Parade

It was warm and humid and sunny, perfect weather for the Veteran's Day parade; not very good for a 25K race. I started out aggressively for the conditions and crashed pretty hard. Hobby Airport had 66 to 74 degrees with the dewpoint in the mid-60s. That's not really bad and I felt decent the first loop. But when I hit the incline toward Shepherd on the second loop, I just gave up. Probably my biggest weakness is not pushing a race when conditions get tough. When I know a good finishing time isn't possible, I can't find much motivation to still run hard for a good place. I just give in to all the negative thoughts and excuses. I did that again today.

On the return leg of the first loop, I heard a thunderous explosion. It was a hotel in the Medical Center I used to be able to see out my window when I was in college. It reminds me of my performance on the second loop:


The first three Fall Series races don't predict much for the marathon:

USA 10-Miler
1:04:08, 77.3% age graded, 549 Purdy Points
3:00:47 projected marathon

Strider's Half Marathon
1:23:58 (watch), 78.4% age graded, 575 Purdy Points
2:57:03 projected marathon

HMSA 25K
1:43:22, 76.1% age graded, 543 Purdy Points
3:01:51 projected marathon



Maybe I'm slower because of my big fat gut

Picture by Cindy





Pictures by Mark


This guy needs to check his rinse cycle:


3 comments:

Mir said...

I'm sorry to hear the race didn't go well! Does it EVER get cold down there? :) Don't worry too much about the races--it sounds like you are training pretty hard through them. I'm sure the marathon will go better.

Anonymous said...

soap Man LOL

GB said...

Love the pics, Nuke. And if you have a "gut" then I look pregnant! And I'm NOT pregnant.