I'm A Jogger

Another Wednesday tempo workout in Lynn Woods and another double run day. Once again I didn’t plan it that way but the weather was iffy all day so I went out for a short lunch-time run just in case the rain came later. Well, the rain held off and I saw no reason to skip the 3rd race in the Lynn Woods Summer XC Series. The race course for this week was a 5.5 mile loop on dirt fire roads. One on my least favorite courses in the series but it does provide a good workout with rolling hills from miles 3.5 to 4.5 and a few good climbs along the way.

I started out very slowly, chatting with other runners for the first mile. After mile one, I gradually started to pick up the pace and began passing runners that went out faster than me. I worked all the hills in the middle of the course and poured on the coals for the final mile to the finish. I felt very strong during the race and passed several runners without ever getting passed. Even though I wasn’t racing, having runners as “bait” to key on kept me motivated during the workout. Hopefully turning over the legs faster once a week will translate into some faster finishes in the Grand Tree and Eastern New England trail races I’m running in the weeks ahead.

I went out for an easy four mile run today during lunch and the plantar fascia of my right foot was pretty sore. This always happens whenever I run faster than a 9 minute pace and last night I ran sub 8:30s. Icing it for a few days usually helps. When I was running I ran past two young women who were walking in the park. As I passed, I heard one say to the other, “There are a lot of joggers here.” There was a time when I would have taken offense to such a statement. But that was back when I could run 56 minutes in a 10 mile race. Today, no offense was taken. As I slowly pulled away at 10 minutes per mile I just smiled and thought, “Yep, I’m a jogger.”

You got a problem with that?