First Race of 2009...New Magic Slippers...Miles and Miles

We've had this brand-new 2009 for 2 month, and hadn't even taken it for a little street race, until yesterday.  Finally, the Mill Creek Distance Classic 1/2 Marathon in Youngstown gave me the first opportunity to open it up and see what it would do.  The conditions were not ideal, too cold with steady rain which did not stop until around mile 10.   I'll provide a full race report within the next few days, but here is a teaser.  I committed a rookie mistake, which definitely cost me some time, and almost ruined the whole day.   Watch this space for details.

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The week was a good one.   I had a passing thought, which I quickly dismissed, about easing back on the throttle a bit in preparation for the half-marathon at the end of the week.  No, best to train right through Youngstown, since that was not really a target race.  Good news...the weather moderated and allowed for some fun running.  It was still cold, mostly, but the snow was gone, mostly.   Monday, I did an easy 10 miles at recovery pace.  Tuesday was a respectable speed day with the following numbers

• 2 miles @ 8:00
  
• 3 x 1 mile repeats @ 6:00 with .25 mile recovery
  
• 3.25 miles @7:53
  

Wednesday, I was feeling good enough for 12 miles at 7:53 pace, but I should have done more.  Thursday, I picked-up the pace to 6:59 for a nice 8 mile tempo run.   Friday, 10 miles at recovery pace.  On Saturday, we had a muddy, mucky, cold 12.5 mile run through the woods.  It was our first real muddy trail run of the year and it felt like it.  On Sunday, I ran the Mill Creek Half-Marathon at a 6:58 pace.  Photos and race report to follow soon.  I did a few warm-up miles before the race, for a total of 78 miles for the week.  

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Last Tuesday, I picked up my new pair of Nike LunarTrainers.  You probably know that I love the Lunar Racers, which, after my 3:07 in Chicago,  I dubbed the 'magic slippers'.    I bought the LunarTrainers, a slightly heavier but by no means heavy, training version of the racers.  They have a more traditional upper, and more cushioning, but basically have the fit and feel of the racers.  I have put about 50 miles on them so far.  They did not disappoint.   I ran the Mill Creek Half-Marathon in them, but you'll have to wait for the race report to learn how that went.