Running Hot

It had been a while since I'd run a road race, so I decided to participate in the Hot Summer's Night run in Columbia on August 1st. Stacy brought the kids and they did the fun runs which consisted of a 100 meter dash, a 400 meter run, and a 800 meter run. My kids did great and the ever confident Jackson lived up to the hype and won the 100 meter, defeating what appeared to be a 4th grader. He was pretty happy... even after that "4th grader" kicked his butt in the next two races. I was proud of both of the kids. Alex right in there too. They had a great day and received 3 medals for completing each race. Awesome.

On to my race. Oh, but first, while the boys and I were stretching we heard a number of people talking. One conversation was a group of 3 high school kids. One of them sounded like he was really a deep thinker. Get this. He says, "you know, the thing about this race, this Hot Summer's Night, is that since it is at night, it's really hot." With brains like that, he is sure to be his class's valedictorian.

So anyway, in case you're not up to date on my running pursuits, I tend to go out way to hard to start a race and then crap out with some really slow splits to finish up. My goals for the Hot Summer's night were:
(1) Keep a steady pace.
(2) Break 7:00 per mile.

And the results:
(1) Steady Pace? Booya! I kept my pace better than ever before. My watch (GPS enabled if you are just catching up) was my guide. I kept an eye on it better than I usually do. When I noticed I was speeding up beyond a 6:50pace, I slowed a bit. When it crept above 7:15, I kicked it up a gear. The only exceptions were the two water stations. Perhaps I should have skipped out on the refreshments for a mere 3.1 mile race, but it was refreshing so I slowed to partake. Anyway, I kept a good pace and was very happy about that.
(2) Break 7:00 per mile? As you might have imaged due to my mentioning the slowing down for the water stations, I actually fell short of my 7:00 mile pace. I finished with a 22:00 race time, which comes out to 7:05 per mile. Close. Very close but this is neither horseshoes, nor hand grenades, so I get the big thumbs down for this one.

Goals - 1 of 2 achieved is not bad, but I want to keep improving. Next running goal? hmmm, time to pick a new race. About a month from now is the Labor Day Fitness challenge. The only question; 5k or 15k? There is no doubt that Stacy will do the 15k, but then again, she reps out miles on the pavement like that every weekend. No big deal for her. For me, however 9+ miles is a long way. More than I ever run. So back to the question? 5k to improve on the 7:05 pace?... or... test my endurance with a 15k? I'll ponder that one for a while.

While I ponder, I'll leave you with that gem from the modern day Einstein. Try to wrap your head around it. "you know, the thing about this race, this Hot Summer's Night, is that since it is at night, it's really hot."