Master runner

Had a great trip to Little Rock...Although the weather wasn't perfect I somehow managed to sqeeze another PR out of this course... we were treated very well. Jake, Connor, Ian and myself all ran the 1/2 this year.

We came out of Juanita's and it started sprinkling and getting colder. I managed to get a few strides in and some stretches and we lined up to go. I took off at my normal bat out of hell pace and led for the first 1/2 mile or so. Jake pulled up next to me and snickered something like "typical" cause he knew i wasn't going to hold that pace.LOL I told him that I still had time to slow down for the first mile split (which i did) 5:17.  

Jake took off with a group of about 6 runners moving at a much faster pace. 3 of them were 1/2 marathoners and the rest were running the full.  2 of the marathoners fell back a bit and i caught up with them at about mile 3 and ran through 11 miles with them. Both of them finished in the money at the 3rd and 4th place spots in the marathon. I ran solo from  there. I hopped just in front of the Lead marathoners when the courses met back up and the 12-13 mile was bitterly cold with a stiff wind..

I wasn't watching my time too much but when i saw the 1:13:xx on the clock i knew i had a good shot of PRing. I really wanted under the 1:14 mark but was a few ticks shy. I was the 4th person to cross the line but found out later that they had a delayed start after the elite field and some dude out chipped me. Regardless i was pretty happy with a 5th place finish and winning out the master field with a PR..

We head out early,shower at the hotel and made a stop at Mike's Place in Conway AR for some lunch.(good stuff)   Then had a very long trip back to the city in the freezing rain/ sleet/ snow / wind.

Little Rock 1/2

did a little 5 mile run on the icy grass trail while the boys went sledding.

did a couple miles warmup then 6 miles of draper hill fartleks. hard on the up and recover on downs. 

Legs a little sore today.

did some easy miles out at EWP while waiting on the dashers. 

AM  - did a quick 8.5 mile run on base...1 mile wu then did 3 at 1/2 marathon pace with a 1/2 mile jog then 3 at marathon pace with a mile cool down.

PM - took Sophie for a quick jog around the hood. 

was at the donut shop when i got a call from connor and decided to go run with him at hefner...we did  a quick mile warm up and then set sail with the wind to our backs and hit the first 3 miles at a nice clip and i told Connor if he was wanting to pick it up to go ahead..i was not aiming to hit any records today..i finished my last  mile up in about 5:42 slowest split... i averaged out the run at 5:32 pace. Connor looked strong and picked up the last mile with a 10- 15 sec gap on me. 

we jogged down to the police station and he hit the port while i got a quick drink at the water faucet. then we looped back and did the keyhole to get in 10. It started sleeting and raining on the jog back it was pretty cold...

We stopped by starbucks for a cup of coffee and warmed up.