50 Min Tempo with Friends

Goal:
14-15 miles with 8 mile tempo in between at ave. 610-615 pace

Actual:
34 min warmup, 14.5 miles with 8 mile tempo at 610 ave pace

Today I woke up at a normal hour of 8am to meet a group of 20+ runners for a long run, and, for those who wanted to hurt a little bit more, a tempo mixed in. I rolled into the parking lot at McAlpine to find a slew of runners, some of which I had never met, and some familiar faces. Once we got on the trail, we picked up another group so that combined we had over 20 runners. The best part was that there was an equal ratio of females to males, which is a rarity in itself. After 33 minutes of fun with the large group, about half of us split off for a restroom break before we started the tempo. Thomas, Lat, John, Ben, Meagan, Jordan, and a new guy joined us for this. John warned us that after the four mile mark, he would be picking it up, so we started off at a respectable pace Meagan and I leading the entourage of men. Fortunately, Jordan took over pacing duties after Meagan "gently" urged him to take over the pacing efforts.

The first four miles of the tempo were fun as we made our way from the start line of the course, to the 4 mile mark, and then back around to the course. Then we did the back loop of the third mile of the 5k course, and around there my pace group of Meagan and Thomas stopped at mile five. At this point, John and Jordan had picked up the pace to something under 5:40 and I could see them pulling away. Lat had joined them, and I didn't want to run the next three miles of this tempo watching as everyone pulled away from me at a quicker pace. For this reason, I decided to turn in the opposite direction of them, and to circle backwards onto the XC course from mile 1.5 back to the start. This was definitely the toughest part of the tempo, as I was solo, but I pushed a good bit to keep the effort solid. I ended with an overall average pace of 610, and was pleased with the strength I was able to maintain for the latter parts. I am finally getting over my sickness, and I hit my target pace for the workout. Ironic how this is the same pace I ran in the marathon over two months ago, but I know that with time I will begin to feel stronger. The sooner the better!

Splits
6:17
6:11
6:00
6:08
6:09
6:11
6:08
6:12 for 49:21 total