2013 Run for Courage: A New 10K Personal Record

It was my third straight year of running the Run for Courage. In both of the previous years, I set a new personal record (two years ago I ran the 5K; last year I also did the 10K) and I looked forward to doing the same today.

Going into the day, I was a bit worried about parking and "traffic" on the course where the 5K and 10K merge since they were expecting over 3000 participants. Last year I did a lot of dodging of walkers in the last mile.

I got to the race extra early (~6:30) to ensure parking (I had planned to arrive closer to 6:45) and didn't have any problems. Probably could have gotten there at 7:15 and still have been fine. One of the nice things about the Run for Courage is that the festivities start at 7:00, so even if you're early, there's stuff going on (whereas at a lot of races you sit around until roughly a half hour before race start).

I think the toughest part of participating in Run for Courage is when they bring out the survivors. I get a bit choked up thinking about what the women have endured, and it makes me feel a bit silly about potentially not doing the race in the future due to concerns about overcrowding. What a lame problem to be so concerned about.

I think they did a better job of lining people up this year and did a good job of it although they may have starting lining people up a bit early. The 10K and 5K groups were separated (the separated area was used pre-race for a dance number) and this year there were pace indicators for the 10K (although they only had 7 and 8 min/mile markers). I stood slightly behind the 8 min/mile sign (I was targeting 8:10 or slightly under). No one lined up ahead of me. A few minutes before the start of the run, they had us all move forward, I tried to move forward slowly, but no one would pass me, so I ended up starting the race right at the start line and ended up in front for a bunch of the pictures. We'll see how those come out.

I knew that starting in the front could cause challenges pace-wise since I'd likely be running a midst those that would go much faster than I, and when you're getting passed a lot, you feel like you're going slowly and speed up. When the race started, I started off fast to make sure I wasn't in the way. I started off a a sub 6:00/mile pace, and after the first minute, I knew I need to slow down to closer to 8 minutes/mile. This is more challenging than it seems like it should have been, and halfway through the first mile, I was still running at about 7:00/mile. I was able to slow things down from there, but I still finished the first mile in a brisk (for me) 7:23. On the plus side, I had gained almost 50 seconds in the first mile over my targeted pace. On the other hand, I might have burned my legs up too much.

Burn out didn't affect my second mile, and I was able to keep my pace steady but under 8:00 minutes/mile as I completed the second in 7:51. I began to slow a bit in the third, and midway through the mile my pace crossed above 8:00/mile. That showed in my time as the third mile took me 8:05. So almost midway through the run, I was 72 seconds ahead of my targeted pace (which was my current personal record).

I continued to slow down for the fourth and fifth miles, but thankfully not by as much as I feared that I would. I lost a combined 18 seconds from my desired pace over those miles which kept me 54 seconds ahead of target. The "dreaded" merge with the 5Kers wasn't as bad as last year (there was still some dodging, but for the most part, I was able to stay to the left to go around most of the 5Kers). I finished the sixth mile in 8:08. I picked up the pace as I approached the finish line and crossed the line sprinting at nearly 5 minutes/mile. I crossed at 49:10: over a minute and a half faster than my previous PR.

According to my GPS watch, the course was slightly short (6.16) which was also the case last year, but this year it was closer to the full 10K. Based on my average pace for the race, it would have taken me another 23 seconds to finish had the course been full length. Even with that added time, I would have broken 50 minutes. It may be a bit more difficult to break this PR because of the course length, but that'll make it all the more of a challenge. Along with my first sub 50 minute 10K, I also had my first average pace of under 8 minutes/mile (7:55).

Here's a table showing my performance versus the average performance needed to match my PR coming into the race:

	Pace		+/-
Mile	Target	Actual	Mile	Overall
1	08:10.6	07:23.0	+47.6	+47.6
2	08:10.6	07:51.0	+19.6	+67.2
3	08:10.6	08:05.3	+5.3	+72.5
4	08:10.6	08:18.0	-7.4	+65.1
5	08:10.6	08:21.9	-11.3	+53.8
6	08:10.6	08:08.1	+2.5	+56.4
+	01:44.8	01:02.8	+42.0	+98.4

The 42 seconds I picked up in the final ~0.21 miles should be a pretty big clue that the course was a bit short.

The Run for Courage 10K is a well ran race, and if it fits into my schedule, I'll certainly run it next year regardless of any concerns I have over the ease of getting parking.

Rock the 80's 8 Miler: 8 Miles Turned Into 10½

It has been a couple months since my last race. As part of my training for the Folsom Blues Half Marathon, I thought it'd be good to do a couple races to see where I was race speed wise (I run a minute or more faster per mile during a race than during training). Two races really stuck out as good choices: The Run for Courage 10K which I've done the past two years and the Rock the 80's 8 Miler because the theme would be enjoyable and the distance was a bit longer. I had wanted to do the Buffalo Stampede, but I was out of town that weekend.

Last weekend, I did an eleven mile training run, so I wasn't worried about the 8 mile distance. Weather here had turned cooler the past couple days, so I was pretty sure that the conditions would be good. The big question would be what speed could I maintain for the full eight miles. Having not done a race recently, I didn't have a good thought on that. I figured if I averaged under 8:30/mile for the run, that'd be success (for a total of 68 minutes). As a stretch goal, I hoped to beat 67 minutes.

I opened up with a first mile of 8:10 well under my goal pace. This past year, when my second mile has been faster than the first, I've had a really good run. That was not the case for the Rock the 80's run but it was close as I finished the second in 8:13. The entire course was flat, so terrain was not the cause of any mile by mile changes. I slowed a bit on my way to the halfway point rattling off miles of 8:24 and 8:25. Halfway through, every mile was below my targeted 8:30, and I was 48 seconds ahead of pace putting my stretch goal of 67 minutes into play.

Additionally the field was not overly deep and the divisions were cut by 5 years (instead of 10), so midway through I thought there was a chance that I'd finish in the top 3 for the 30-34 division. I could see a guy ~100 feet ahead of me that I thought was likely in my division, so I decided to try to keep up with him for the second half of the run.

This required me to pick back up the pace, and my fifth and sixth miles were both completed in 8:12. The guys I was chasing retained roughly the same lead (I gained on him at times, but then he'd pull back ahead). I ran my fastest mile of the race for the seventh mile at 8:05, but he was still getting away.

We ran through the start area roughly 7.3 miles into the 8 mile run (over the mats where they recorded our time and place at that point) and then continued towards the finish line (not visible). About a quarter mile after that, we joined up with another group of runners (5Kers is what I assumed). At about a quarter mile to go, there was a division in the course, and I started making the turn to the right (towards where I thought the finish line was) when I heard a volunteer shout "8 milers straight ahead". I figured the turn out must have been for the 5K, so I changed course and headed straight. When I passed 8 miles on my GPS watch with no finish line in sight, I knew something was not right. At 8.5 miles, I knew that I had been directed wrong and thought about heading back, but made the decision to continue the loop (I realized at this point I was approaching the 6 mile marking) and do an extra 2.5 miles since it'd be good practice for my half marathon in four weeks.

I completed the eighth mile even faster than the seventh: 7:52. Very surprised I was able to break 8 minutes per mile that deep in the run. I slowed a bit once I realized that I had missed (or been misdirected from) the finish line, but still averaged 8:35 and 8:32 for miles nine and ten (and a 8:23 pace for the final half mile). Overall I finished averaging 8:16/mile, but officially my pace was 10:51 for my time over eight miles:

Turns out that I was right about having a chance to finish in the top 3 for my division. When I crossed the mats at 7.3 miles in, I was third for my category. Based on the sum of my times for the first 8 miles I ran, I would have beaten the guy who officially finished third in the division by just under a minute. Had I not been misdirected, I would have gotten my first age group medal, and it'd be one of these:

I'm disappointed on missing out on the third place finish. I really think I was directed the wrong way, but I suppose that I could have misunderstood. I think it was a bit odd that the course combined in the same area 8 mile runners that were working on their sixth mile with those working on the last mile (the runner I thought were 5Kers from above were actually 8 milers). I really think there should have been a divider between the two groups to make sure everyone goes the right way. The second time around, there were additional volunteers at the fork and they were directing runners to the sixth mile and the eighth mile appropriately. I still think signage and a divider would have been better.

I do wonder if I was the only person mis-directed or if there were others. With the additional volunteers and direction the second go-around, I think there had to have been others.

I created my normal badge for the run, but I'm giving myself credit for the ten and a half miles I ran and the pace I averaged over it. This performance has definitely given me hope that I'll set a new half marathon personal record next month:

Ignoring the directional confusion, I had a good time at the Rock the 80's run. I enjoyed the nostalgic music and many of the runners (not including me) were dressed for the part. The volunteers along the course were very encouraging, and except for the final turnoff, forks in the course were well marked with helpful volunteers and I never really felt like I didn't know which direction I was going next. All things considered, I'd probably run this race again next year if offered.

12 Weeks Until the Folsom Blues Breakout Half Marathon

My plans for stilling in running shape over the summer haven't gone according to plan due to a number of reasons with the main one being that I overdid it a bit in the spring, it's been a hotter summer than usual, I've gone on a few spaced out vacations that have interrupted my training flow, and I haven't been that good at sticking to my diet.

I had planned to keep my distances up and complete a nine and ten mile run in each month. I've done a couple runs over eight miles but nothing over nine. I'm sure I can ramp back up, but depending on the heat, it'll depend over how many weeks.

What worked well for me for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon in the Spring was targeting a one mile increase in my long run (Saturday) every two weeks while doing at least eight miles in the other week. I'd also run a couple of five mile runs during the week. I'd like to do the same this go around along with adding a 3.5 mile run on the Sundays following the 8 miler.

To be on track for that, I'd need to do a long run of seven miles today. I currently have a bit of a cold, so I decided to go for 3.5-5 instead. I'm pleased to report that I did the five. I think if I also do five miles on Monday and Wednesday with an optional 3.5 tomorrow depending on how I feel, that I should be able to go for 8 next weekend and be right on track.

If not, last year I followed a seven week plan to get up in distance for the Four Bridges Half Marathon (which is now the Folsom Blues Breakout Half Marathon), and if things don't cooperate this year, I could do the same plan again. I pulled a muscle in my right hamstring using that training plan - in part because it was intense and also in part due to my efforts to set a new 5K PR, so I'd rather go with a slower route.

As part of this, I'm going to have to keep an eye on my weight and get back to my diet. I was 180.8 this morning, and I had originally hoped to be in the 167 range by race day. The low 170s are now more a realistic goal, but it's going to be a bit of work. I've been thinking that I need to up the protein I eat while backing off a bit on carbs (especially after running and before days where I'm not running). Hopefully that combination helps me out with my training.

2013 Folsom Firecracker 10K

The Folsom Firecracker 10K took place on the last day of a heat wave in the Sacramento area, and my performance in the event suffered as a result. There were five water stops along the run, and I used the stops more for pouring the water over my head to stay cool rather than to re-hydrate.

I didn't run for a week leading up to the event to rest up and to avoid the heat. I wasn't quite sure what pace to target for the run. Last year I finished the same race in just under an hour (59:56). I wanted to beat that, and thought that targeting 55 minutes would be about right (which would be a target of ~8:51/mile). That'd be about midway between my time last year and my PR of 50:49.

As it turned out, the heat was too much for me, and I withered away pretty quickly. Only my first mile was better than the pace I wanted, and I lost about a half minute per mile for each mile after that. Here's a look at my mile breakdowns:

• Mile 1 - 08:27
• Mile 2 - 09:04
• Mile 3 - 09:31
• Mile 4 - 10:02
• Mile 5 - 10:33
• Mile 6 - 10:57
• Mile + - 02:52 (10:35/mile pace)

Adding it up, I came closer to setting a new PW (Personal Worst) for the 10K rather than meeting my goal:

It's hard to reconcile this performance with my last 10K where I set my PR since I was over 10 minutes slower this go round, but looking at the stats for the runs, a couple things are clear: my PR was set when the temperature was 57º whereas this run was 91º (with 34% humidity) and this course was hillier than the PR course. I've heard that 60º is the optimal running temperature and that there would be performance degradation for every 5º above that.

One really nice thing that was done for this race that I hadn't seen before was the ability to create (and print) a finisher certificate for the race. Here's mine:

Looks good and it's a nice touch (meets what I'm doing with my badges). Hopefully more of these will be available in the future.

The race ended up being more focused on "survival" and finishing than dominating. I'm happy to say that I ran the whole way since I did have thoughts of stopping and walking throughout. I'd like to write that all off to heat, but I think I could have been better prepared to run in the conditions.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Diet fatigue is hitting me hard now. Knowing that I have a few vacations coming up that will make it hard to stick to a calorie budget certainly doesn't help either. I try to convince myself that if I made a hard push now I could make my goal beforehand, but regardless, I'd probably have some work to do after to get back to the goal.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned even less calories than last week (1519) but ended the week 204 calorie below budget, so this week I didn't eat back more than I burned. If you add that deficit to my expected ½ pound a week loss, you'd expect that I'd lose 0.6 pounds. Here's my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
04/01-04/08	172.5	170.6	173.6	173.2	97.7	38.6
04/08-04/15	172.4	171.4	173.4	172.8	97.7	38.4
	-0.1	+0.8	-0.2	-0.4	0.0	-0.2

Well, I didn't hit expectations, but at least, my weight was down (ok, yeah, not by much). Results like these are fueling the fatigue. I'm trying to be positive, but it's hard.

Moving onto running, I had planned to get back into things, but work got in the way early in the week, and late into the week, I convinced myself to do the Sacramento Zoo Zoom instead. Since I set a new PR, I'm glad I did, but I need to get back into training this week. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
						6.24
Total Mileage: 6.24

This is the most I've fallen short of my weekly mileage goal this year:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 264.02 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 927 miles in 2013. My legs feel a bit sore from the Zoo Zoom, but hopefully light training will not be too much for them.

Sacramento Zoo Zoom

Based on the success of my performance in the Credit Union SacTown Ten Miler, I started thinking I should run the Sacramento Zoo Zoom to set a new 10K personal record. When the weather forecast predicted that it would be cool, I knew the conditions were ideal, and that I had to go for it. Add the motivation from missing the race after signing up last year due to illness, there was no turning back.

The race day schedule was a bit odd: the 5K started at 8:00 with the 10K going at 9:00. Turns out that they wanted all of the 5Kers off of the course before starting the 10K (the 10K course was two loops of the 5K). Not sure why we couldn't share the course, but it was nice to not have to worry about wide patches of walkers blocking the way near the finish ... especially when chasing down a PR.

The course was advertised as "flat and fast" and boy was it ever. There was a grand total of 31 feet of elevation change according to my GPS watch (just slightly less than the SacTown Ten Miler now that I check the data).

Speaking of my GPS watch, I think the tree that lined the park we ran around playing havoc with the satellite reception resulting in some weird reading during the run. While I love my GPS watch, I wonder if it's resulted in me being too focused on current pace and less focused on enjoying the run. I'm hoping eventually to balance out the two.

Regardless, I got off to too quick of a start and had to slow myself down midway into the first mile. I still kept going a bit too quick in mile two, but then I settled in. I was targeting averaging 8:15/mile but just needed 8:21.8 to set a PR. I didn't have any miles slower than the 8:21.8, and four of my six miles were faster than 8:15. Here's the breakout of my run:

	Pace		+/-
Mile	Target	Actual	Mile	Overall
1	08:21.8	08:08.9	+12.9	+12.9
2	08:21.8	08:05.3	+16.5	+29.4
3	08:21.8	08:11.3	+10.5	+39.9
4	08:21.8	08:17.0	+4.8	+44.7
5	08:21.8	08:19.4	+2.4	+47.1
6	08:21.8	08:11.9	+9.9	+57.0
+	01:47.2	01:34.7	+12.5	+69.5

The final 0.2 miles I averaged a 6:40/mile pace which I found surprising since I wouldn't have thought that I'd have that much left in me. Here's the badge for this race:

Along with being my new 10K personal record, this is also the fastest pace with which I've completed a race (faster than my 5K PR). Makes me want to take on a 5K to see how much I can improve on my time and best pace.

A few nice things about the Zoo Zoom that I failed to mention above: They set up markers at the start to indicate where people who were targeting certain paces (6 min/mile, 8, 10, 12, walkers). I appreciate this as I think it makes the start go better although not everyone pays attention and lines up right. For the 5K, they had pacers for each minute per mile target (and the pacers were dressed as zoo animals). Also they announced your name as you crossed the finish line which is always a nice touch.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Another week down, and the after-effects of Easter weren't really realized. I guess one can over-indulge every once in a while.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had my first "over" week of the year mostly due to a decrease in exercise. I only burned 1785 and ended 88 calories over budget for the week (ok, not really that much over). Subtract that surplus from my expected ½ pound a week loss, and you'd still expect that I'd lose 0.5 pounds. Here's my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/25-04/01	173.0	172.2	174.4	174.4	98.5	38.0
04/01-04/08	172.5	170.6	173.6	173.2	97.7	38.6
	-0.5	-1.6	-0.8	-1.2	-0.8	+0.6

Well, I dropped the expected half pound, but I lost more than that in water weight (and gained fat weight if you believe my scale). This could affect next week's results. On the plus side, I hit a new low for the year which is always good encouragement.

Moving onto running, I took the week off to rest up for the Credit Union SacTown Ten Mile Run as I was started to have some lingering soreness in various parts of my legs. Here's my mileage for the "week":

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
						10.12
Total Mileage: 10.12

The rest helped me beat my goal for the run, but had me short of my weekly mileage goal:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 257.78 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 970 miles in 2013. Not sure how much I'll run this week either as I might be a bit more cautious about ramping back up especially since I don't plan on doing another race until the end of June (although I might try to pick up a run in May if possible).

The Credit Union SacTown Ten Mile Run

A couple months ago, when I signed up for the Credit Union SacTown Ten Mile Run, I thought it'd be a good tool for predicting what pace I should attempt for future half marathons (assuming I can find a 10 miler to run prior to said half marathon).

After finishing the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, my thoughts on the ten miler started to change as I began to question whether or not I'd feel a sense of accomplishment from a shorter race. However, I still go 10Ks, and since I quite like the idea of setting new personal records, having another record to challenge works for me.

I've been a bit sore since the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, so I did have some concerns about how my body would hold up for the race today. I felt more soreness during today's run than the half, but I held up well, so I was pleased with that.

Rain was in the forecast for today for most of the week, but thankfully it was dry. It was a bit on the cool side, but not too cool, so it was probably an ideal day for the run.

I started off a bit faster than I was planning: completing the first mile in 8:10 and the next two in 8:15 each. I had planned to keep each mile between 8:20 and 8:30. I couldn't keep up with the quick pace, and my fourth mile was down to 8:25, and then my next three were right around 8:30 (my sixth mile was 8:31). I picked it up a bit for the eighth mile finishing in 8:26 but then slowed down to my worst mile for the ninth at 8:33. I dug deep for the final mile finishing it in 8:14. I ended up running roughly an extra tenth mile as part of the run.

I was pleased to beat my goal of finishing in under 85 minutes. Further pleased that my pace was only 3.3 seconds/mile slower than my 10K PR and 12.7 seconds/mile faster than I ran the Shamrock'n Half Marathon. I nearly completed the first 10K of the run faster than my 10K PR which strongly suggests that I ought to be able to set a new 10K PR the next time out (unless the course is unusually hard).

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

One quarter of the year is now in the books. Seems like I've been "dieting" for quite a while now. All things considered, I've had success so far in 2013, but not to the extent that I would have liked. Additionally, I indulged more than I should have on Easter. Thankfully, it was my first real lapse of the year. Unfortunately, it was yesterday.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had a bounce back week in regards to exercise burning 3549 calories. I ate back ~2175 of those (I wrote off Easter dinner as 2000 calories ... that was hopefully in the ballpark) to finish 1374 below target. If you add that to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.9 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/18-03/25	173.1	171.4	174.6	173.6	98.3	38.3
03/25-04/01	173.0	172.2	174.4	174.4	98.5	38.0
	-0.1	+0.8	-0.2	+0.8	+0.2	-0.3

After last week's results, I was happy to see any sort of loss this week and especially glad to see that my fat pounds were also down. It was a bit disturbing that my low and last weigh in of the week were up over last's. We'll see how my over-indulgence at Easter affects next week's numbers.

As for my Lose It challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running in March (goal of 2000 minutes), I completed the challenge with 2062 minutes and beat the challenge. The challenge apparently wasn't scored on a pass/fail basis (which seemed lame to me), but I'm pleased that I met the spirit of the challenge.

Moving onto running, I returned to normal: running two five milers during the week and a ten milers on the weekend. Ok, the ten milers was more than my usual eight, but I wanted to make sure I was ready to do the ten for next week's race. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.61			5.32			10.41
Total Mileage: 21.34

My run on Thursday was different than usual (as I posted about on Thursday), as I ran a "magic" mile. I'll probably attempt another "magic" mile two weeks after the Sac Town Ten Milers.

Here's how I did towards my goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 247.66 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1004 miles in 2013. This week's running may be a bit light as I rest up for the Sac Town 10 Miler on Sunday. I'd like to still get a couple runs in, but I have tennis on Thursday, and I'm starting to get the feeling that my legs could use a bit of a rest.

The "Magic" Mile

One of the things I've yet to figure out about running is knowing how fast I could possibly get and what speed I should target in an upcoming race. I always desire to target a personal record (PR), but often times, the question comes down to by how much. What I really need is a why to translate my training speed to race speed.

A co-worker of mine has pointed me to a website that attempts to answer that question. A professional running trainer, Jeff Galloway has devised a formula for predicting 5K, 10K, and half marathon performance based on the speed at which one can run "a magic mile". The rules and explanation for the magic mile can be found here. The short explanation is that Jeff devised this formula from working with a large number of runners over many years.

Intrigued by the concept and aided by the fact that Jeff lists the formula for translating the magic mile to a 5K, 10K, and half marathon time, I decided to reverse the formula to attempt to predict my magic mile time based on my time for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, the Super Bowl Sunday Run IV (10K), and my 5K PR from October of last year.

Starting off with the half marathon, my 1:53:04 time translates to a 8:37.9/mile pace during the run. Reversing the formula for the magic mile results in a one mile time of 7:11.6. That seems pretty fast for me (of course, so did the half marathon time).

My Super Bowl Sunday Run 10K time was 51:58 for 8:22.9/mile. Reversing the magic mile formula gives a one mile time of 7:17.3. Pretty close to the other time, and that shows I improved between the 10K in February to the half marathon this month.

As for my 5K PR from October of last year (this course was no where near flat), I finished it in 25:33 for 8:14.5/mile. That translates to a 7:41.5 magic mile. Hard to believe that I would have taken 30 seconds off in roughly half a year.

The theoretical is nice, but I thought I'd put it to the test. Rather than my regular 5 mile run tonight, I decided to do the one mile warm up, followed by the magical mile, then the five minutes recovery walk, before finishing with three more miles of running.

I had to keep telling myself to slow down on the warm up mile and averaged a 10:38/mile pace. I was pretty amped up when I finally got through the warm up and started way too fast (faster than 6:30/mile) before trying to hold a ~7:00/mile pace. It quickly became apparent that was too fast as I kept slowing down until I was at 7:30 and then finally 7:40. As I approached the end of the mile, I was able to pick it up a little bit (~7:30). I finished the mile in 7:36.6.

I was a bit disappointed with the time after calculating the theoreticals. Based on that 7:36.6 time, the magic mile formula predicts that I could run a 25:18 5K (15 seconds better than my PR), a 54:16 10K (2:16 slower than my Super Bowl Sunday time), and a 1:59:38 half marathon (6:34 slower than my Shamrock'n time). Granted, the half marathon time is around what I had expected to do, but my actual time was much better.

So my first attempt didn't really follow the formula (and maybe I don't), but I think it may take an attempt or two to figure out how a fast one mile should feel, and from there maybe I'll get a time in range with his numbers. If not, maybe I'll find a co-efficient to apply that matches my output.

Thankfully I really don't need an answer yet. While I am running the Sac Town Ten Miler next weekend, I already have a plan for the run: keep my miles between 8:25 and 8:35. I'd like to keep my opening miles around 8:25, and if I feel good drop down to 8:20. But my overall goal is every mile under 8:35.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

So much for being stuck: I got my "make up" week weight-wise to compensate for my results last week. It was a light week running-wise as I recovered from the Shamrock'n Half Marathon.

Starting off with Weight Management, I hit a new low for the week twice: Thursday (172.6) and Saturday (171.4). Will be interesting to see if this is a sign that I'm almost done or if I'll struggle to beat that weight for a month.

It was a light week for exercise as I was resting up from my run. I only burned 2581 calories but ate back 2369 calories to finish 212 calories below target. If you add that to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.6 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/11-03/18	174.5	173.2	176.0	174.0	98.5	39.5
03/18-03/25	173.1	171.4	174.6	173.6	98.3	38.3
	-1.4	-1.8	-1.4	-0.4	-0.2	-1.2

As you can see, my numbers were quite a bit lower than last week's, but since last week's were up over the previous, I think this was just an evening out. I haven't had much of an additional deficit the past two weeks, so I'm not expecting much out of next week.

As for my Lose It challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running in March (goal of 2000 minutes), I made better progress than expected in my recovery week (gained a number of extra minutes from walking). I finished the week at 1606 minutes (394 shy of the goal). In a typical week I walk and run 380 minutes, so if I just pick up an additional 14, I'll complete this challenge. There's a bit of rain in the forecast for the week, so to be safe, I'll probably try to get a few extra walking minutes in early. I'd be very surprised if I don't hit 2000 minutes.

Moving onto running, I took Monday and Tuesday off to rest after the half. I planned to do 2-3.5 miles on Wednesday and was happy to finish the 3.5 miles. I did another 3.5 on Thursday, and then did my normal 8 on Saturday. I had thoughts of doing another 3.5 on Sunday (I'd like to get to where I run both days on the weekend) to make up for the missed miles during the week, but I was a bit sore after Saturday and thought it better to rest. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
		3.67	3.86		8.38
Total Mileage: 15.91

I came up just a bit short of my goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

Here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 226.32 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 995 miles in 2013. I expect to return to doing my two 5 milers during the week, and I'm planning on doing 10 miles on Saturday. That'll be my last long run before the Sac Town 10 Miler on the following Sunday.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

I knew it would happen eventually, but it never makes sense when it does: even though I've stuck to my calorie budget the past two weeks, my average weight went up week over week. Emotionally, it was a good week for that to happen as my excitement and feeling of accomplishment from the Shamrock'n Half Marathon well overshadowed my disappointment of going up in weight.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had a rough start to the week as my weight expectantly jumped a couple pounds and that increase stuck around for a few days. I burned 3618 calories but ate back 2957 calories (purposely as I wanted to be at "full strength" for the half marathon). I ended with a 661 calorie deficit and if you add that to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.7 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/04-03/11	174.1	173.0	176.4	176.4	98.6	38.9
03/11-03/18	174.5	173.2	176.0	174.0	98.5	39.5
	+0.4	+0.2	-0.4	-2.4	-0.1	+0.6

Looking for the sliver lining, my max and last weights were lower this week than last which does make me optimistic about next week.

As a side note, I did my health check at work this past week, and the fat percentage measuring device at work put my body fat percentage at 18.0% whereas my scale at home tends to have it around 22.5%. I'm not sure which is more accurate (if either), but it does suggest that I might not be as "fat" as the numbers above state.

My Lose It challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running in March continues, and I continue to make progress towards the 2000 minutes goal. I have completed 1206 minutes so far which is 256 minutes ahead of my "expected" 950. My expected minutes would put me 290 below the goal, so I've nearly made up 90% of the difference. However, I expect this upcoming week to be on the light side. However, it can't be too light if I want to have the opportunity to nail this one next week.

Moving onto running, I had a bit of a situation on my second run of the week (planned to be five miles) and had to cut the run short. I wasn't too concerned, and as I did want to go light this week, it may have turned out for the best. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.43		2.09				13.17
Total Mileage: 20.69

Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 210.41 miles so far this year (surpassing the 200 mile mark) and am on track to complete 1011 miles in 2013. I'm not sure how much running I'll be doing this week since I'll be recovering from the half marathon, but I can't recover for too long as I'm signed up to run a ten miler in 3 weeks. My hope is to do 2-3 miles before the weekend, 6 on the weekend, and then back to two 5s and an 8 next week. We will see.

Shamrock'n Half Marathon

After nearly three months of training and anticipation, today was finally the Shamrock'n Half Marathon. I set a goal of breaking 2 hours and was excited to see if I could complete that goal. Perhaps a bit too excited as I had trouble sleeping last night.

7500 participants were expected for the run, and the organizers recommended getting to Raley Field by 6:15 if you desired to park by the stadium. A bit early for my liking, but I got there just before the lines got really bad. I think they were still parking cars in the lot at 6:45, but I imagine those folks were sitting in traffic for quite a while.

The weather was a bit cool at 6:30 but when the sun rose around 7:00 it felt a lot better. I realized as took off my extra layers that I had made a poor decision in regards to shorts as the pair I chose had no pockets (I'm surprised that I bought such a pair). As such, I chose to leave my gel shots in the car, and secured my keys to the shorts drawstring. Fortunately, I don't think this caused me any issues although I could have used one of the gel shots.

I was assigned to the first wave which was set to start at 7:45. I lined up in the queue around 7:20 after finding the 2 hour pacer. The first wave consisted of anyone expecting to finish under 2 hours, and I was surprised so many runners were lined up behind us when there was quite a bit of room in front of the 2 hour group.

When the race started, I tried to keep an eye on the 2 hour pacer, but I got off to a quick start (as is my custom) and I quickly pulled away. The first few miles I frequently checked my watch and mentally told myself to slow down with limited success. Other than short bursts of music from the bands positioned around the course, I don't remember much from those miles. I averaged around 8:35 per mile for those first three miles, and once I realized that I was going to continue at that pace for a while, I calculated that if I ran the first 7 miles at 8:30-8:40 that if I did the final 6 at 9:30, I would hit my 2 hour target.

Once I made it through mile 7 keeping at my desired rate, I decided to try to keep under 8:40/mile but more reasonably only allowing each mile to be at most 10 seconds worst than the previous. The eighth mile was a bit rough towards that goal but I did finish it in 8:42. I bounced back for the ninth mile (my fastest of the run) with a 8:29. I slowed a bit for the tenth finishing in 8:35. I could feel myself faded after that and had to keep telling myself to speed up in the final three miles. I'm pleased to say that I finished those miles in only slightly slower times that my previous miles: 8:42, 8:43, and 8:43 respectively. I finished the race at a sprint (7:50/mile pace). As a nice touch, the race finished on the ball diamond of Raley Field.

I ran a total of 13.17 miles just slightly over the expected length. That was not as much as I did in the Four Bridges Half, so I was glad to see that I did a better job of not taking the corners too widely.

I ran a pretty consistent pace which was nice to see. My mile splits ranged from 8:29.1 (mile nine) to 8:43.9 (mile twelve). My first seven miles were within a narrower 8:33-8:36 range.

Here's the badge for my most recent personal record:

I enjoyed the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, and I think it's likely that I'll do this race again next year. This personal record will likely hold up for a bit as I'm not likely to run another half until October.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Another week in the books, and for the most part, it was a good one for weight management and running. My final weigh-in of the week (today's) was unexpected and disappointing, but I can't complain too much about how the week went.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned a whopping 4394 calories (my highest weekly total so far this year). I ate back 1565 of those to end the week 2829 calories below target (which I found impressive because I went to my quarterly poker night which is usually quite the night of excess). Add that calorie deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.3 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/25-03/04	174.8	174.2	175.8	175.6	98.8	39.4
03/04-03/11	174.1	173.0	176.4	176.4	98.6	38.9
	-0.7	-1.2	+0.6	+0.8	-0.2	-0.5

After spending the entire week weighing in between 173.0 and 174.5, I was disappointed to see the scale show 176.4 this morning. With the week I had, I don't understand why it jumped up so much. I'm hopeful it will fall back down tomorrow.

As I mentioned last week, I signed up for a challenge on Lose It regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running: the goal is to complete 2000 minutes. With my normal minutes, I'll finished the month at 1710: 290 short of the goal. I finished the past week with 708 minutes. Based on my usual activity, I would have completed 570, so I've put in an extra 138 (just a bit shy of half of what I need to make up). With the half marathon on Sunday, I expect this week to be pretty normal. How soon I'm able to return to running (and perhaps walking) will determine if I'll be in range to complete this challenge or not. Completing the half marathon is job one, and anything that detracts from my goal of finishing in under two hours shall be avoided, so I'm not too concerned if I fail at this one if I hit my half marathon goals.

Moving onto running, I've start tapering off and "only" went for a 8.7 mile run on Saturday (my plan was 8 miles or 80 minutes - whichever was longer). I was just a couple seconds off of the pace needed for the half marathon, so I think I'm in really good shape for my two hour goal. The threat of rain midweek resulted in me moving my second run to Tuesday. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.40	5.33				8.70
Total Mileage: 19.43

The back-to-back five milers wasn't as rough as I expected them to be. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 189.72 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1004 miles in 2013. I plan to do two 5 mile runs during the week (preferably Monday and Wednesday) and then the half marathon this weekend.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Two months of 2013 are now over and I'm now just a couple weeks away from the Shamrock'n Half Marathon and roughly halfway through the expected length of my diet. I performed well in regards to expectations (staying within my calorie budget and getting in the necessary miles) this past week.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned 3759 calories in the past week (my highest weekly total so far this year) and only ate back 1522 of those to end the week 2237 calories below target. Add that calorie deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.1 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/18-02/25	174.7	172.8	177.2	174.2	98.0	40.4
02/25-03/04	174.8	174.2	175.8	175.6	98.8	39.4
	+0.1	+1.4	-1.4	+1.4	+0.8	-1.0

I'm not completely sure what to make of my results. This is my first "up" week of the year (other than the first which was impacted by not dieting the last week of last year) although being up by 0.1 isn't bad. My minimum weight for the week was way up, but my maximum weight was down an equal amount, so that's a bit of a mixed bag. My fat weight was down while water weight was up, so if those measurements were accurate, I probably had a good week. I expect if I have another good week next week that I will see a decent loss.

Lose It added Challenges near the end of last year, and up until March, all of the challenges I participated in were around logging every day. For March, I found a challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running: the goal is to complete 2000 minutes. Doing the math, in an average week I do 380 minutes (four 30 minute walks with the dogs, two 40 minute walks with the dogs, two 50 minute five mile runs, and one 80 minute eight mile run). Multiple that by four, and I'm at 1520. The "extra" days in March are Friday (30 minute dog walk), Saturday (40 minute dog walk plus 80 minute run), and Sunday (40 minute dog walk) which should get me another 190 minutes for 1710 minutes total. So if I do the "normal", I'll end up 290 minutes short.

With the half-marathon, I'm probably not going to have a very normal month. I'll get some extra running in early, but then less than normal while recovering from the run. Additionally, rain may play a little havoc with my dog walking schedule. I figured when I signed up that I wouldn't get the full 2000 minutes, but now that I've signed up, I want to meet the goal. For now, that means I need to get in another twelve 25 minute walks.

Through the first three days of the month, I'm off to a good start. I've walked the dogs three times for a total of 110 minutes (expected), went for a long run on Saturday for 2 hours (40 more than expected), and did an additional 25 minute walk on Friday. So I'm currently at 255 minutes (65 minutes above expected). This coming week may be rough as I have tennis on Thursday and poker on Friday so I'll miss one of the dog walks. I'll try to get in a solo walk on Friday to make up for some of it. There's also a threat of rain which could cause me to have a further deficit. Regardless, it's nice to have this challenge.

Moving onto running, I completed my longest run of the year as well as the most miles in a week so far this year. I had thought about going out for a short run on Sunday to make it the most miles "ever", but I was pretty sore after the 12 mile run. Here's the chart for this week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
6.27		5.21			12.10
Total Mileage: 23.58

I ran in new shoes this week, and I wasn't a big fan of them. Luckily I found a few pairs of my previous shoes and they arrived today. I walked and ran in them today, and I definitely made the right choice. I may buy a few more pairs (I bought two this time) to stock up before I can't find them anymore. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 170.29 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1003 miles in 2013. I'll be tapering down this week and next with the plan of doing two 5 mile runs during the week (preferably Monday and Wednesday) and an 8 miler this weekend.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

I went on a short trip to Southern California to attend UFC 157 and visit the Universal Studios theme park. As such, I didn't get as much exercise in as usual, but I think that will actually turn out in my favor.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned 2076 calories in the past week but ate back 1143 to end the week 933 calories below target With the trip to So Cal, I was surprised that I ended with more than a couple hundred under. Add that 933 calorie deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.8 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/11-02/18	175.7	174.2	177.2	175.8	98.6	40.6
02/18-02/25	174.7	172.8	177.2	174.2	98.0	40.4
	-1.0	-1.4	0.0	-1.6	-0.6	-0.2

My week started off as if it was going to be a repeat of last week, but since I missed out on some of my usual exercise, I think my body released some of the extra water its been holding onto. As a result, I had a pretty good week in regards to weight loss and set a new low for the year. I expect my results next week won't be very good.

Moving onto running, I completed the second least amount of miles so far this year. I had intended to run on Wednesday, but my wife cooked, so I skipped the run to have dinner with her and then focus on packing for my trip. Not a great time to be missing a run with the half marathon so close, but I think it'll turn out ok and perhaps I'll benefit from the extra rest. Here's what I did this week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
8.10					3.65
Total Mileage: 11.75

The 3.65 miles on Saturday was on a treadmill: my first such run this year. I did a 1% incline which I heard simulates running outside. Regardless, I reconfirmed that running on a treadmill is beyond boring. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 146.71 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 974 miles in 2013. My plan is to do a 12 mile run this weekend before tapering down for the half marathon. I will likely complete more miles in the upcoming week than I have an any other so far this year.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Recovery week was over, and it was time to get back to business. My weight management results were disappointing, but I was pleased with my progress in regards to running.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned 3121 calories in the past week (my most in the past four weeks) and ended the week 1622 calories below budget (so I ate back roughly half of my exercise calories). Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.0 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/04-02/11	175.9	174.2	177.2	175.6	97.7	42.0
02/11-02/18	175.7	174.2	177.2	175.8	98.6	40.6
	-0.2	0.0	0.0	+0.2	+0.9	-1.4

I had a feeling the numbers weren't going to look good and actually expected to have a higher average this week than last, so I was pleased that wasn't the case. I'm pretty disappointed that I had a good week calorie-wise last week and this but didn't really see any results from it. My fat pounds recovered from the increase last week and are now lowered than two weeks ago (or at any point this year).

I'm down 4.2 pounds from the start of the year (looking at average weights). Based on calorie deficits, I should be down 7.0. If I ignore the first week (where I gained 0.6 when I should have dropped 0.9), I'm still 1½ pounds heavier than I should be. So for now, my actual results are averaging to be 75% of expected. The big question is if the problem is my recording or does my body not burn calories at the average rate.

Moving onto running, I completed my new longest run of the year on Saturday and had a good pace of 9:48 minutes/mile. I need to hit 9:10 per mile to beat 2 hours, and I think I'm in good shape to have a chance at that. This past week was my most miles ran in a week since five weeks ago:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.19		5.30			11.41
Total Mileage: 21.90

Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 134.96 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1026 miles in 2013. With four weeks to go until the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, I think I'm in good shape. My 12 mile run in a couple weeks will be my last big checkpoint before the big run.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

It was a recovery week for me in regards to running, but even still, I had a good week keeping to my calorie budget and still managed to get in the miles needed to keep me on track for my yearly goal.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had two "over" days during the week, but one of them was just by 30 calories, so that hardly counts. I burned 2621 calories in the past week and ended the week 2097 calories below budget (thus I ate back 524 of my burned calories or less than one-fifth: probably the best I've done percentage-wise this year). Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.1 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
01/28-02/04	176.6	175.6	178.0	178.0	98.9	41.0
02/04-02/11	175.9	174.2	177.2	175.6	97.7	42.0
	-0.7	-1.4	-0.8	-2.4	-1.2	+1.0

I didn't quite lose the expected amount, but I still lost a good amount. The numbers are a little bizarre this week: my fat weight was up for the first time this year, water weight is down quite a bit, and my ending weight was less than my weekly average (usually my Monday weigh-in is the highest for the week). Well, I'm guessing that my Tuesday weigh-in may be a bit higher than today's. I've never fully trusted the fat/water percentages from the scale, but I do keep an eye on them. Will be interesting to see how next week's numbers look.

Moving onto running, as I mentioned before, this was a recovery week (since I ran the Super Bowl Sunday 10K last Sunday). My speed was a bit slower than typical for these runs, but I think I got a good enough amount of miles in with all things considered:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
3.38		5.05			9.30
Total Mileage: 17.73

I faded quite a bit at the end of the 9 mile run, but I did do some additional hills near the end, so that wasn't completely unexpected. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

My first 100 miles of the year are in the books (I've completed 113.06 in 2013), and if I keep up my current pace, I'll end the year with 1006 miles. I'll be doing a couple long runs (11 and 12 miles respectively) over the next three weeks, so I expect that number to climb a bit through the Shamrock'n Half Marathon before starting to drop down.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

January has come and went, and now we're in February. The first month of the year was a successful one for me in regards to my weight management and running goals, and I'm looking forward to having similar success in this month.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had a cold (minor case of the flu?) at the start of the week, and it affected my ability to exercise, so I only burned 1874 calories in the past week. Of those, I ate back 368 thus ended the week 1506 calories below budget. Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.9 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
01/21-01/28	177.1	176.0	178.0	177.8	98.8	41.6
01/28-02/04	176.6	175.6	178.0	178.0	98.9	41.0
	-0.5	-0.4	0.0	+0.2	+0.1	-0.6

Since I lost more than expected the past couple weeks, I'm not surprised that this week's actual results were below mathematical expectation. I still hit my ½ pound loss, and that's the important thing.

Moving onto running, as I mentioned before, I exercised less this week due to illness and not surprisingly had my lowest mileage of any week this year. I could have done more miles, but I saved myself for the Super Bowl Sunday Run, and if you read yesterday's post, you'd know that turned out to be a good decision. My week of running ended like this:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
			5.18			6.25
Total Mileage: 11.43

I didn't hit my 16 miles for the week, but I expected there'd be weeks like this. I more than made up the miles in the previous weeks this year, and I expect to be over up until the week before the Shamrock'n Half Marathon. Here's the graphical view of the week:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

Here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 95.33 miles in 2013, and if I keep up that pace, I'll end the year with 1023 miles. As I've said before, I think that number will drop once I've gotten past the Shamrock'n Half Marathon although it dropped a bit this week due to the light week.

With six weeks to go until the half marathon, I think I'm going to target a long run of 9 miles this weekend, 11 next, 8-9 the following, 12 after that, and then 6-8 on the weekend prior to the half. I think that's the best way for me to be where I need to be on March 17.

2013 Super Bowl Sunday 10K

Today's Super Bowl Sunday Run was my first 10K of the year and my first entry into this event. I ran on Super Bowl Sunday last year, but I ran the Folsom race (not held this year). The run was held at Sacramento State University, and a good-sized crowd showed up.

It was a bit cool this morning when I got up (36º) but it was expect to warm up to 46º by race time. Unfortunately the fog failed to burn off by the start of the run (and didn't burn off until I was finished) making for quite a cool run. On one hand it was nice not having to worry about overheating. On the other, while getting sweaty in the cold just makes you even colder.

The start could have been better organized in my opinion. There were enough runners there that lining up by expecting pace would have been nice. I tried to lineup mid-pack thinking that's where I belonged, but I spent the first couple minutes of the run trying to quickly pass a lot of the runners in front of me while staying out of the way of the runners behind me that were faster.

Regardless, I got off to a hot start without overdoing it. I knew to set a new personal record (my 10K was 53:05) that I'd have to average 8:32½ per mile. I wanted to finish the first mile in under 8:30 but not too close to 8:00. I was pleased when my GPS watch informed me that I finished it in 8:24.

Usually when I have a good run, my second mile is ~5 seconds better than my first and is the best of the run. Knowing that, I tried to pick up my pace a bit to get a quality second mile. I did better than 5 seconds finishing the second mile in 8:16. From there I tried not to fall off too much. My third and fourth miles were excellent: slower than the second but faster than the first. I started slowing down during the fifth and focused on staying below 8:40. Midway through the sixth mile, we passed the Grant High Drum Line, and the beat must have got me going again as my sixth mile was better than the first. I ran hard for the final 0.2 miles, but was so focused on catching one last person I didn't check the time clock nor stop my watch at the line (I remembered to stop it ~30-45 seconds later).

Even with stopping the watch late, I knew I had a new personal record. Here's my mile-by-mile breakout compared to the target pace to get 53:04.9 (which would have been a new PR by 0.1 seconds):

	Pace		+/-
Mile	Target	Actual	Mile	Overall
1	08:32.6	08:23.8	+8.8	+8.8
2	08:32.6	08:16.3	+16.3	+25.0
3	08:32.6	08:18.1	+14.5	+39.5
4	08:32.6	08:23.6	+9.0	+48.4
5	08:32.6	08:38.1	-5.5	+42.9
6	08:32.6	08:19.8	+12.8	+55.7
+	01:49.5	01:38.4	+11.1	+66.8

I ran my first 10K a year ago (except for a 7 mile race I did a few years ago when I was 29) and I would not have believed at the time that such a time as the one I ran today would have been possible for me. Also seems unbelievable over the course of the year that I cut out nearly 8½ minutes from my 10K time. Here's my badge for this race:

I decided to add a new line to the badges to indicate records (for this one, "New 10K Personal Record"). I'm not sure that the color is quite right for it yet (and maybe the positioning needs to be better), but I like the idea of noting things like that (also potentially noting event records when I reran an event).

One nice touch done by the organizers of today's run was having a professional football player (Jahvid Best - Detroit Lions running back) on hand to help with starting the "Future Stars 40-Yard Dash" as well as counting down to the start of the 10K. Best also signed autographs after the run, and when I passed by where he was, there were just a few people in line, so I joined them. I had hoped there'd be some sort of promotional picture for him to sign, but since there wasn't, I had him sign my bib:

Still pretty cool, but getting a picture signed would have been better. I had checked eBay for pictures of Best when I heard he was coming but had decided against buying one. If I do this run next year, and they once again have a player as a special guest, I will buy a photo in advance.

All-in-all, I enjoyed the Super Bowl Sunday Run and would do it again. Of course, it's hard to be upset with any event in which I set a new PR.