This is a pull-back week. I was supposed to take Thursday and Friday off and run a half marathon on Saturday, but I really didn’t want to run a 10 mile warm up for a 5k, so I decided to run 10 miles on Thursday, take a break Friday, and run the 5k on Saturday.
Monday was the normal form drills + 4 miles + 7 strides. Many places I normally run were underwater, so I ran where I could and ended up running a little longer. I crossed the Purple People Bridge, ran down 4th Street in Newport and Covington and across the Clay Wade Bailey bridge to Cincinnati and back into Covington via the Suspension Bridge, back across 4th Street into Newport and then back across the Purple People Bridge into Cincinnati. 5.4 miles in 47 minutes.
Tuesday was a slightly nicer day, and I did 5 miles. Just ran. I did end up going through an area that was muddy due to floodwaters. I crossed the Purple People Bridge, ran across 4th Street taking a short loop across the Newport Floodwall (western side, from 4th to the end near the Taylor Southgate Bridge), and then along 4th Street in Covington and across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. I did try to join up to a few guys running across the Clay Wade Bailey bridge, but as they slowed I didn’t, so I ended up passing them. I ran down next to the Schmidlapp Event Lawn and down to the riverfront parks where I had to slow down to go over some wet mud and then back to Pete Rose Way. 5 miles in 45 minutes..
Wednesday was a beautiful morning to run. Things are starting to dry out and I got some of my running areas back, although some places were still “closed” and some were closed to traffic. I did my form drills in the same area I normally do, and went through some of the flatter riverside area until I ran out of room to run, so I ran out of the park, running around a barricade from the ‘closed’ side (parcours style – hop up on a curb and then onto a bench and then back down to the sidewalk) and across the Purple People Bridge and then back across the Taylor Southgate Bridge, scaring an oblivious pedestrian (news flash, pal – there’s a sidewalk here!). Back into the park to stretch (running around the same barricade noted above two more times, the second time probably pissing off the park workers). 5.6 miles in 46 minutes.
During my lunch on Wednesday, I went out for a walk to a local running store and bought two belt packs. I found that two of the belt packs I own have clasps, buckles, and loops in a very stupid spot – the side. This digs into me and becomes very painful very quick. So I made sure the two I purchased had clasps only on the front. Both are Nathan brand, which I already have a handheld water bottle that is the same as what is used in one of these.
Thursday’s 10 mile run started slow, and it was a rainy day. I was slow on mile 1, which was the start and going up the Purple People Bridge and then again in mile 3, partly due to going up a set of stairs up to the Newport Floodwall. After mile 3 and especially after mile 5, I sped up (not really intentionally until near the end). I’m starting to get back to my normal running areas, although I have to watch the mud still. I ran across the Purple People Bridge, down to the levee and around the parking lot where Joe’s Crab Shack and Burger King are, back to the west floodwall and up the steps to the floodwall. Then across 4th Street into Covington where I ducked onto some side streets to get to the Suspension Bridge. Crossed the suspension Bridge back into Cincinnati where I went west to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and crossed back into Covington. Ran down 4th Street into Newport and onto the new portion of KY-9 to get to the Taylor-Southgate Bridge, where I crossed back into Cincinnati and ran along Pete Rose Way to the entrance of Sawyer Point. When I entered Sawyer Point, I had about 0.3 miles left, so I practiced my kick. Despite being 10 miles, I felt oddly good at the end. 10 miles in 1:26:48.
Friday was an off day. Since I didn’t run, I went to packet pickup during my lunch break.
Bockfest 5k
Saturday was the Bockfest 5k. First race of the season. I parked at my work’s parking lot, used the restroom in the office (there was a lot of people there for a Saturday, but I think they were all in the accounting company… tax time), and jogged about 1.5 miles to Bockfest Hall. Tried to use one of the port-o-lets before the race, but the line was longer than the race. I held it and ran hard. According to my watch, 23:05 (which I’d link to Garmin Connect, but it appears to be having issues), according to the official results, 23:13. Per the watch, 7:37, 7:07, 7:31. I’ll take those splits any day! Also, 25th in my division and 148th (out of 2,428) isn’t bad either!
Link to Race on Garmin Connect (will be updated when I or Garmin fixes stuff) • Link to BibRave Review
Cheers!
