Tour de Fleurs 20K

How quickly a year has gone by since I ran this race in '07. I've intentionally had a very light race card since then, although it includes 2 marathons (Memphis, Disney) and 1 half (Hottest). I miss running 5Ks and 10Ks most weekends like I did back in '05 and '06 - I'll get back to them after I reach my marathon goal. I ran with Susan last Saturday, which came with the added benefit of a fully baked race report (start after the part about "constipation" though). What a deal!

It's All About Physics

In the early days of LHR training, I did a lot of out and backs, leading to Garmin maps that looked like this:


Then I was told I needed to hydrate every 15 mins. I'm really not into the fuel belt thing, so I stash my gatorade along my route and run in tighter circles, up and down side streets, and generally stick close to the neighborhood, resulting in a Garmin map that looks like this instead:


This week I busted through to a new level, apparently traversing land and water with equal ease, with no detrimental effect on HR or pace:


Next week I may try to defy gravity.

WKRP Where Are You?

I had a great run this morning in Cincinnati. Despite the unflattering view outside my hotel, the view about three-quarter mile away along the Ohio River was quite magnificent, even better in the pre-dawn darkness.

I've run across this bridge once before, back in Nov '06. At the time, I stayed on the Cincinnati side, ran across the river and turned left to run along a small park. This time, I was already on the Kentucky side and to the right of the bridge. It turned out to be even more picturesque.

Greek Revival and Victorian homes from the 1800's lined the first 3-4 streets running parallel to the river. Life-sized bronzes lined the river - here's James Audubon overlooking the point where the Licking River flows into the Ohio.

I had a 15-min warmup followed by 5x12's with 2-min walks in between on the plate this morning, all at 144 HR (64% of max). With temps in the low 50's, I was cruising at a much better pace than I'm used to, with a negative split to boot!

This weekend, I shall return for another running of the Tour de Fleurs 20K with Susan. As if the Hottest Half last month wasn't enough, we're also both signed up for the DRC Half in November. Like Pavlov's dog, every time Susan calls, I'm staring at a 20K minimum buy-in.