A 2.12 mile race among friends - 11/13/10

This past August I went on vacation to Florida with my family.  We went down with another family to visit another friend.  Our little group of middle aged parents decided to have a little running race while on vacation.  It turned out to be a 2.25 mile route and the results weren't what my wife and our friends anticipated.  I won quite convincingly.

My wife and friends weren't anticipating the Clydesdale of Hoffman Estates lumbering to victory the way I did.  So, in the face of this little upset victory (or loss from their point of view) they decided to make a bunch of excuses for themselves and demanded a re-match in the fall.

It's been about 3 months since our first race and the time for our re-match has arrived.  This Saturday - 11/13/10 - our friends will be coming over and we'll be running a 2.12 mile route in Hoffman Estates.  Apparently my wife and our friends have been training.  Will I be able to repeat?

Frankly, I'm not sure!  I've been doing a lot of longer and slower runs since the summer.  It's been largely due to my 1/2 marathon training.  While I've been able to successful run 11.20 miles without much trouble, I'm concerned that a fast 2.12 miles may be as hard, if not harder, this Saturday.

I actually went out and ran 2.12 miles on Monday night.  At my 11 minute/mile pace it would have been a cake walk.  I tried to maintain a 9 minute/mile pace and it was nothing short of HARD!  I was really winded after 2.12 miles at the faster pace!  I finished the first half of the run at the 9 minute/mile pace but the return leg was slower (approximately 10 minute/mile pace).

When I walked out the door before the run on Monday night I told my wife I'd be gone for about 1.5 hours.  My plan was to run the 2.12 miles fast and then slow it down for a longer run for about 1 hour.  Well, by the end of the 2.12 miles I didn't have the drive to keep running so I came inside and finished up my workout in the basement with about 50 minutes of weight training.

I took yesterday off since I'd worked out several days in a row without a break.  I was feeling the onset of a cold anyhow so the break was probably in order in any case.

Tonight I'm supposed to run again and then lift weights.  I've got a bit of a cold, but I think I'll go ahead and do my scheduled workout.  Tomorrow I'm going to try running twice - once in the morning and then again in the evening.  On Friday I'll lift weights again and by Saturday morning I should be ready for the 2.12 mile race among friends!