Knoxville Group Training Run - 1st Half

Every year I forget just how hard the first half of the course is. And each year I get reminded with a beating to the legs. The course is rolling hills, but with two really nice inclines at 7 and around 11 that really put a smackdown on any hope of freshness in the legs. Despite that this run went well enough, and fortunately all the rain cleared out just for us in the morning so we had sun!

I got in a group of about 4 other people and we ran together the entire time. One was running the full, about my pace, and the other three were running the 5k or half. One guy Keith was shooting for a 1:20, so we had a group really close to my pace range. By 13 miles I was wanting to stop, but Keith wanted to go farther and I didn't mind so three of us kept going and ended up with 16 miles. I don't know the pace because none of us had GPS and of course my ipod crapped out. My legs were very worn after this one, but cardio I didn't really feel like I was pushing anything. This was one of those inbetween runs, I didn't feel good at any point, but I never felt bad, and it was tough at times, but not really a hard effort.

I'm about a heartbeat away from getting a Garmin. Ipod said it had no battery power and turned itself off mid-run, even though it was on the charger all night and had full power this morning. I'm sick of complaining about it, anyone have a Garmin they don't want? lol.

fasttwitch 156

3.21.09

Confident. I am feeling really good after the course preview run this morning. It started out with an early wake up, toasted a waffle, grabbed the gatorade and got on the road for the drive downtown. I wasn't really tired this morning, actually I was just kind of normal and laid back. I sort of had a mix up when i got downtown because they redid some stuff and now the exit ramp i usually got off on is no longer in service, so I sort of did a backroads connect the dots type of driving until I finally found a street that I knew. Fortunately I remembered last year they didn't start right away, so I wasn't worried about being late. I think I got there right at 7:30. The marathon staff guy said his hello's and all that, and we were out the door, a group of about 25-30 runners.

I started running with the lead pack, but they were just kind of jogging. It was kind of uncomfortable to run slower, but I wanted company so I stuck with them for a mile or two. Eventually another runner ran past them, so I just went ahead with him and started up a conversation. He was a good running partner, but was only doing 10 miles, so was turning around at 5. We just chatted about training and the things you talk about while running, garmins, injuries, time off, work, etc. It was good and he was keeping the pace moving along nicely for me. At 5 we parted and here I turned around for a bit, hoping to see some other runners coming, but I couldn't see any. Fortunately the course was marked with green stenciled arrows and I was able to follow them for the rest of the half marathon course.

It was a great morning run. Kind of cooler, but really nice out and it was fun to run through the 3rd Creek Greenway which is a mostly wooded area, and then on into Tyson Park. I did have to stop at 7 miles after "the beast" hill on Noelton Drive. Everyone knows that thing, haha. I also stopped in Tyson for a quick bathroom break. I had a good time running alone actually and it was nice just to run how I felt. Before I knew I was nearly to the end. I talked to Elijah, the staff member of the Marathon and we chatted for a while afterward. He is running Boston this year with some other guys from Knoxville. In fact he said one of the guys he runs with placed 25th last year at Boston! crazy.

Unfortunately my dog scratch isn't feeling very good. I cleaned it and everything, but it is sore today. The good thing is it didn't really affect my running, but I did stay up all last night thinking about the whole situation. I just couldn't sleep. It's somewhat distressing that nothing will probably come of the incident, but I'm just going to move on. If something else happens I am just going to call animal control and have them pick the dog up. It's illegal to have a dog off the leash in our neighborhood (at least according to our home owners association) So I don't know. I just don't want to have to be "nervous" to run through my own neighborhood for fear that something stupid will happen again for no good reason. / rant

I am excited about the marathon. It will be interesting to see what happens.

knox half preview. 32-37 degrees wind calm 67% humidity.
1:34:47, (13.69) gf 602