Wednesday, May 24, 2006

A Sprint Finish

Started a little early again and ran about 2 miles before the official Tuesday group run. Kevin, who usually leads the Tuesday night runs was not there last night so the run started at 6:35 instead of 6:45 and I almost missed it. As soon as I ran up we were on our way.

Cruised out to the turn around with Jim at a decent clip and tried to get into the run. My legs were a bit tight and it took several miles for them to loosen up. As we went by Lloyd hall on the return trip we passed a couple runners and one of them decided to pick it up and run with us. It felt kind of like a challenge so I picked up my pace, he followed. This continued back and forth up the hill to the Art Museum. My first real running duel with someone I didn't know, he was new to the running group.

I was trying to gauge his breathing and I really felt I had him beat so I just slowly upped the pace and he held on. We were neck and neck and I planned on keeping it that way and just finishing at the same time but in the last 50 meters he tried to take off. I knew I had a lot left so I just sprinted the last bit and easily beat him. It felt good. The last mile was a 6:05 and I know the second half of that mile was much faster than the first.

A couple cool down laps around the Art Museum steps and I was done for the night. Wednesday will be an easy run in prep for another Thursday night trail run with the Wissahickon Wanderers. Good Stuff.

1 comment:

seebo said...

good job on the pissing contest last night.

when things get heated up like that instead of torquing it up another notch I like to make some conversation, esp. if its a new guy. you ask some friendly questions and then watch as he struggles to answer through the oxygen debt.