Monday Night Dowd Group

Distance: 6.11 mi.
Time: 46:40.51.
Pace: 7:39.

Two days after my half, I met up with the Monday evening group from the Dowd at 5:30. This run is organized by Caleb and is always a good one. This time it was attended by Boyd, myself, Jocelyn, Carolyn, Paul, Eggers, Brinkley, and Jay. Paul joked that Eggers, Brinkley, and I always seem to come as a package deal. I was just looking forward to getting in some shakeout miles, as my legs and right foot have been excruciatingly tight since the race.

We looped around through Dilworth and the Freedom Park areas before heading back, 6+ miles later. I was glad to get in some easy miles, feeling much more loose afterward. I also enjoyed sharing war stories with Eggers, who raced the Columbia half, and Paul, who always loves to talk shop.

Easy Goofing Off

Distance: 5.60 mi.
Time: 45:15 - 8:05 ppm.

Today, I wasn't going to run, then at the last minute texted David Brinkley Jr. to see if he wanted to meet. He had planned to meet a buddy at the Dowd Y and told me to join. I ran five very easy miles with Dave and Michael and we just kind of goofed off, discussing some funny things that had happened to us recently and what not. At one point we passed a group of foreign-speaking gentlemen on the greenway. They calmly slid out of the way to let us pass, then later decided to come racing past us, all the while hammering on in their native tongue. We thought this was a bit weird. The three of us trotted along, uncomfortably, between the three of them before getting tired of the act and leaving them in the dust. Weird. This was a fun run though and my legs felt okay despite yesterday's 20-mile run.

Long Run Fail

Distance: 6.78 mi.
Time: 51:25.62 - 7:35 ppm

The effects of being sick - minimal food, shorter sleep, etc - caught up to me today. I had 12 miles on the schedule and I was done after just over 6. The race yesterday certainly had something to do with it, as well, and I didn't get out the door today until it was very hot. Luckily, this was a down week, anyway - this was my repeat week to get back on schedule with the Thunder Road plan. So, no worries. I'm just looking forward to kicking this minor illness and feeling normal again.

Long Run in New Shoes

Distance: 12.14 mi
Time: 01:38:41 - 8:07 ppm
Running Buddy

I did something somewhat absurd today: I got up and out the door before 5. I wanted to watch my friends run the latest GPX event, the Blue Points 5k, which started at 7:30 a.m. near the stadium downtown. With family plans for the Sunday, I knew I would have to get my long run in before the race. So I started at the Dowd and got in some good, decent-paced miles under the streetlights. The cool part about running this early is I can run down a main road like Kings or Sharon without worrying about cars (although I don't recommend this - I am a crazy person).

My Nikes felt fantastic. I am in heaven. I feel like a cheating husband who has come sobbing back into the arms of his forgiving wife after months of infidelity. My affair with the young hotness - Brooks, Mizuno, etc - is over. And Brooks, I'm sorry, but you knew what this was.

The pace reflected in the stats above is skewed by the fact that I forgot to stop my watch several times while I was watching and filming Blue Points. I spent a few minutes refreshing myself at the Dowd before heading over to the intersection of Stonewall and McDowell - right at mile one. A pack of college or post-college studs came flying past, well ahead of Paul and the usual suspects at this point. Billy and Brinkley both ran really well but most of my friends were disappointed with their times, as this was a tough course and the conditions were pretty brutal. I was glad I had gotten my long run out of the way early.

Temp-o Time!

Distance: 9.00 mi
Time: 01:03:59 - 7:06 ppm
Running Buddy

Ah, yes...a successful tempo run. It's about damn time. I met David Brinkley at the Y at 5:50 a.m. (yes, 5:50). I got there early only to have him find me in the bathroom and yell at me to hurry up. We milled around with Paul and some of the other Dowd crew regulars before taking off. The plan was to do one mile slow, then 2 at marathon goal pace (7:10), 4 at tempo pace (6:40), and 2 more at MGP.

We went down Morehead and headed towards the Little Sugar Creek greenway in an effort to keep all the tough miles on the flat section. The first mile went by in 7:52 and then we got off a little fast (6:56). Settling down just a bit, we were now ready for the hard part. Again, we started off too quickly, coming through the first mile of the tempo section in 6:27. We worked together and just tried to keep the wheels from coming off as we took the greenway all the way to Park Road shopping center and ran through the parking lot before finally turning around.

Miles five and six had gone by in 6:36 and 6:43. We were fading. We entered Freedom Park and managed to salvage things, picking up the pace and coming through in 6:37. My troublesome left shin was really bothering me on this run, so I stopped to tie my shoes tighter, which actually seemed to help. Dave was done, choosing to trot the final two miles back to the Y at cooldown pace. I was not able to keep it at MGP but tried my best to run a respectable pace back to the Dowd. I came upon Jamaar Valentine on the sidewalk on Morehead and cruised to the end.

It felt good to successfully complete a really hard workout like this, but I am worried about my left leg....again.

Cheerleader Run

Distance: 5.53 mi
Time: 00:44:44 - 8:05 ppm
Running Buddy

The idea for this run was to get in 7-9 miles, part of it done on the Speed Loop so I could cheer on Anne Marie, who had some short repeats on her plan for the day. I turned into a cheerleader for the group of Cailtin, Billy, Spada, and Eric Bilbrey as well. I wasn't sure what they were doing exactly but they were moving. I showed AM where Rebecca's house was so she could water there and basically tried to stay out of the way and get in my own miles. I didn't feel very well so I kind of ended up just trotting around before heading back to the Y with a not-so-happy female runner.

Hilly Long Run

10.84 mi in 01:26:32 - 7:59 ppm

The training plan called for a long run "with hills" at the end of week one. I like how I can ease into these long runs, especially given that I'm already in shape, as opposed to using marathon training to essentially achieve fitness, as I did last year. The more I get into training the more I understand many of the reasons that led to last year's injury. I am very confident that I can avoid any kind of setbacks this time around.

Incorporating hills into any kind of a run is a remarkably easy task in Charlotte, as long as one avoids the creek greenways. I headed over to the Dowd for this one and I was a bit worried when I saw Paul post on Facebook that he had called it a run after only 8 miles on account of the humidity. I decided to set off at "old man pace" and just do my best to get comfortable. I passed Meghan Fillnow and Emily Hansen on East Boulevard in the early section of this run as I ran through Freedom Park and part of the Summer Breeze course.

I left and headed towards Park Road shopping center, with the intent of running the older section of the Little Sugar Creek greenway. Here I ran into Anne Marie unexpectedly. We exchanged pleasantries and I witnessed a look of concern wash over her face as I asked if I could join her for a few miles. She made me promise not to kill her and we wound back through the neighborhoods and on to the park. After stopping to get water, we parted ways, and I made a point to charge up the East Boulevard hill. That effort pretty much sapped me, and luckily the run was almost done. I made it down Kenilworth and over to Morehead for one final hill.

With just under half a mile to go, I happened to switch Running Buddy over to "total average pace" to see that I was running 7:59 for the duration of the run. Uh-oh...I threw it in another gear and booked it up the street to the Y to ensure that my pace stayed under 8 per mile. Eh, not a big deal, but it's nice to find new ways to stay motivated.

Cut-off Loop

6.06 mi in 00:44:30 - 7:20 ppm

Back to the Dowd for the day. I have tentative plans to do my second workout - a marathon-pace tempo run - on Saturday, but given the restaurant week shenanigans that may be a bit ambitious. My only goal for today was to not get caught up in a faster pace or too long of an easy run - both of which are easy to do with this group!

I had to give something to Chad, who along with his wife was running a bit late, so I waited while they pulled in the parking lot and the group took off without us. Chad and I ran a sub-7 mile in order to catch up, and then I was awake! They were doing the 9-mile Colville loop, so I parted ways with them at the 4-mile mark and ran back to the Dowd. The pace was brisk again (7:20 average) but I felt a lot better than I had the day before.

Dowd Sauna

7.04 mi in 00:52:29 - 7:27 ppm

I met the group at the Dowd for some easy miles today that weren't really all that easy. We had a huge group but the conditions just keep getting tougher out there. I wanted to be able to go shorter than most of them - closer to 6 or 7 miles - so when it became clear there was no plan as to our running route, I shot up front and set the pace. I had us turn from the Booty Loop down back towards Freedom Park so I could run on the greenway and go back up Morehead to the Dowd. If anyone wanted to add extra there would be ample opportunities to do so.

Well, I set a quicker pace than I should have, and suffered a bit for it. Too fast for an easy day. There was a 7:21, a 7:16, and a 7:24 in there before I slowed down and let someone else lead. Given the weather conditions those paces surely must equate to 7-flat or better on normal days. Perhaps I should start taking the weather into consideration when calculating my pace....or better yet, just stay at the back of the pack next time.

..Second Dowd Run

7.63 mi in 00:57:21 - 7:31 ppm

I made it back to the Dowd again. This time it was Paul, Caitlin, Caleb Boyd, Kevin Ballantine, Matt Jaskot, Compton, and several more. David Brinkley even showed up; he's usually there every day to lift and decided to run with us this time.

We ran part of the Booty Loop and passed Anne Marie as she was doing another pick up run - which she nailed. I should add here that things really do go better for her when she doesn't run with me. I might be faster but she's a much smarter runner.

Caitlin, always the leader, took us down the greenway and then back to the Y before going off to do more. Compton discussed the possibilities of a fall marathon and then randomly disappeared. Paul, David, and I mostly ran together and discussed various training plans as well as a bit of race strategy for the upcoming RFYL 4-miler.

First Dowd Run

7.97 mi in 00:59:18 - 7:26 ppm

There is a CRC group that meets at the Dowd every Wednesday and Thursday at 6am to run. From what I gather it's a lot of the same people I usually see on the group long runs. I decided to make it out today for the first time.

I met Paul, Alex, Kahn, the Crockfords, Thomas, Michelle, and a few more. They were doing the 9-mile "Colville Loop" and I tagged along before having to find a bathroom because of stomach issues once again. Luckily there are always porta-jons nearby in the Eastover neighborhood as someone is always tearing down a million-dollar home and building another one in its place.

I ended up getting in a solid 8 miles for the day.

Anne Marie's Pick-Up Run

Distance: 8.00 mi
Time: 01:06:10 - 8:16 ppm
Running Buddy

I met Anne Marie at the Dowd Y to do what she had scheduled for today: an 8-mile run with a pickup at the end. I'm not really sure what to call this one - it's not a tempo run, but certainly not an easy run. Pickup run? Fast finishing run? Oh well, let's not worry about semantics.

So far I am 0-for-2 in meeting the Dowd crowd on Wednesdays, and I can see I'm missing out. It appears to be  a big group both days. Today I saw Paul, Jamaar, Jason Martin, the Fillnows, the Crockfords, and a few more I didn't recognize. Hopefully I'll wake up in time next week, folks!

We were scheduled to run 8:30 pace (or so I thought) for the first five miles and then drop it down to 8 or under for the last three. We ran from the Y towards the NASCAR museum and then decided to run on the Little Sugar Creek greenway, since she had never run on it before. Our first five splits were 8:30, 8:18, 8:30, 8:26, and 8:29.

We began picking it up, running 7:54, 8:06 up some hills, and then 7:53 for our last three miles. I think we started out faster than she wanted but she maintained her form and got the work done, including some tough uphills near the end.

Since I'm racing this week, this was a bit further than I wanted to go but the slower pace should make up for it. I'll just keep it simple tomorrow - course preview shakeout run up in Birkdale and that's it!