Back to the tempo grind

Realizing to my distress that I have a half marathon in three and a half weeks, I decided to flirt with injury and reintroduce the tempo run. My worstest run ever! Really. I am so bad at tempos. But yesterday everything came together for not-the-worst-tempo ever.
It was chilly, so already that was a plus. I got up early and put on my Boston shirt, which was another plus: I almost never wear this shirt, since it's quite warm, but it reminds me of the excitement of that race. Plus - how weird is this - I saw THREE other people in the park in Boston shirts! I rarely see any other Boston shirts out and about, and three in one day is a record! One of the other runners shouted, "Nice shirt!"

Then, I got to break in my new shoes: On Wednesday, I did a 8+ mile run in yucky muggy, windy weather than ended with a violent flash flood and tornado warning with just half a mile left to home. By the time I got home I was soaked through, and my shoes were waterlogged and disgusting. Luckily, I realized as I logged that run, I was right at 500 miles. Time for new shoes, anyway! I ditched that pair and enjoyed cushiony new shoes for my Thursday tempo.

Merry Christmas to me: Kinvara 5's that I bought when they were cheap

Once I hit the park, I picked the pace up and started my tempo, hoping to hit five miles at 7:00 pace. I was kind of annoyed to see that the ROTC was running - just because they take up SO much room - but it turned out to be a good thing. One of their coaches was a friend from church, so I got my personal cheering section! Every time I passed I got a "Nice job!" or "Good work!"

Five miles flew by, and I actually would have gone six, except I have run fairly high mileage and fairly tough workouts this week for someone with a bum hamstring. So I kept it to seven total, five at tempo. I will grudgingly continue these tempos until my half, but I bet they won't all be this good.