I ran a 10K race this morning in ugly conditions. Lots of wind the whole race, plus it poured the first 3km or a bit more. I'm not thrilled with my pace, but I did run a pretty steady effort, I think.  When this race is done (this is my 7th year running in this one), I always sort of feel like I'm out of training and into maintenance mode where I can work on the cross-training I've been neglecting and building strength. I think more strength might be the key to bumping up my PRs. Now I don't have another race until Resolution Run (Jan01) and Hypothermic10K (Feb).

I agree, ayola -- fall is the best season. We're deep it fall here in northern New England, and have started having frost in the mornings on windshields and shaded grass areas. But days are still dry -- soon the rainy days of late of Oct will arrive and knock all the remaining foliage off.

After DNS'ing two races in Aug (half) and Sept (10K) from hamstring issues, I ran the Maine Marathon Half marathon yesterday on a glorious, bright sunny day. Chilly at the start with 40F and a north breeze, but warmed to low-50s early on -- which was perfect because it is an out-and-back type course, so the north headwind was a tailwind on the return.

The only goal I set for the day was to run even all the way -- to not outrun my current fitness level and get into a death march for the last 5K, but also to not have it be just a long, tempo effort -- wanted to work; but find the pace which would work all the way. Was a bit anxious due to really light miles and no long runs in the past 4-6 weeks.

Half marathon #44 goes into the books as a 1:43:15 and did a pretty good on the even effort and splits...39:32 for 1st 5mi (7:55/mi avg), 38:55 for 2nd 5mi (7:48/mi avg), and 24:41 for the final 5K+ (3.2mi actually) for 7:43/mi.  Miles 12 and 13 were dead even 7:44 each..so no fade.

At the end, coming into the finish chute for the last 100 yards or so, the woman in front of me looked like she was hurting and starting to ease up -- I backed off a bit to let her keep the position (it seems silly to me to push passed someone you haven't raced at all in the last few feet), but she stopped early!  There was an announcer chip mat about 20ft before the finish and she stopped as soon as she hit that early mat.  I yelled "no!, keep going!" which startled the crap out of her, and she re-started, but I wasn't waiting for her.

MTA...found this photo today, catches the point where I'm telling her not to stop at the announcer chip mat we've just crossed...

Nice work, MT! I struggle with that fade. I need to race more maybe.

We had 7/10" on Saturday followed by two days of crappy and chilly weather. Hard frost last night and today we were finally back to decent weather. Today's run was a run probably all over the place. I didn't worry about pace and sped up when I felt like it. It wasn't maybe hard enough or structured enough for intervals, but it was fun to just get out and run in the sun. It was about 12*C with no wind. Just comfortable. There are not a lot of shorts days left.

No, not snow yet. Rain so far, but it's not unusual to have snow on the ground at Halloween so not far off I'm sure. This week I'm finding I'm really yo-yoing as far as motivation. One day it's good. The next I'd like to just do a really short one. (I've been running every day so skipping a run isn't a consideration. It's all about how far to go, but for the first time since June, I'm not really in training so there's no have to do distance.

MT, that's a pretty cool picture!

Well, this morning I had a 15k that I had signed up for months ago. Since my ankle snafu, I had intentions of just pulling in about 16 or 17 miles at an easy pace, in hopes that it would have a little bearing on the Detroit full next weekend. I worked a 12 hour shift last night, made it up the mountain in dense fog and light rain, then did the usual bathroom stuff and picked up my packet. Out on the foggy road I went, 4.25 miles warm up. As the race started, I just started easy and ended up picking it up a little. Before I realized it, I was passing people like crazy and racing this thing! I finished in 1:18:21 for 8:25 pace and was about a 2 minute PR. Now for a couple of easy shake out runs next week with lots of rest before tackling my 2nd full. I plan to treat it as any long run, and just see how it goes. I have a couple of time goals, but they're rather loose as I really don't think I want to "race" 26.2.

You guys are fast!

I'm out of racing season and into maintenance mode, but I had a great run yesterday on a day I had no business having a good run.

Temp 14*C (58*F)

Wind 40 gusting to 86kph (25 gusting to 53mph)

Partly cloudy, some spitting rain in the last mile, but not enough to get wet

Run planned: 6.2 miles. Run completed: 6.68 miles. 

I'm feeling it a bit today. Stabilizing muscles are a bit sore, sort of like the first few runs of getting used to running in the snow in the winter.

I finally got in a short run of 5.7 miles, then did 6.5 on the bike. I have very low expectations for my marathon now with all the down time from my ankle. I got the PR on the 15k last weekend, but just not sure about the longer distance now. I'm hoping my body will remember what it's supposed to do.