For Whom the Dogs Bark

77F, 96%, SSW 1 mph.  Got up very early to run before leaving for Santiago.  10.0 miles at 8:45/mile.  No watch or heart rate monitor.

41F, 93%, N 6 mph.  Ran outside in Santiago.  Was planning on running in the hotel, but was told the treadmill was worthless, and that it was safe outside.  Then I met a local guy at dinner last night who assured me that the park south of the hotel was safe.  He is a 3:01 marathoner, ran Boston this year, so I figured he knew what he was talking about.  The park was about 7/10 of a mile from the hotel, so I ran out there and did 3 laps in the morning.  Then in the late afternoon I ran back out and did 5 more laps before dark.  Each lap was a little less than 2.4.  Total of 21.6 miles per the computer.

A couple of interesting things.  The park is very busy with families, etc. hanging out, usually with a dog.  Didn't see a pure breed dog all day, nor even one animal on a leash.  Some of the dogs were huge, in excess of 200 pounds.  But I was never bothered, and eventually I didn't pay much attention.

The other interesting thing was returning to the hotel on the morning run.  There was a huge line going into the back door of a large building, so many people that I was forced out into the street to get around them.  I looked more closely and the building was the US Embassy.  They were all trying to get visas. Chile is considered the premier economy in Latin America, but people vote with their feet, we don't always give proper credit for how good we have it here. 

75F, 100%, calm and clouding over.  Back in Houston, started at 4:30 intending to do 20, figured no problem since I didn't run yesterday because of travel.  But I ran out of glycogen at mile 16.31, felt hyponatremic, so just stopped at a random location and walked home.  All day I felt like I had run a marathon, but got on the treadmill anyway for 4 more after getting home from work.  Was amazed at how much better I felt once I got some kinks worked out.  The run in the morning was 8:41 per mile for the first 10.25, didn't get a time after that but felt like I slowed down some, so I'm calling it 8:45 to 8:50 pace overall.  A little bit faster for the 4 on the TM, 2 at 9:00 and 2 at 8:00.

81F, 100%, light wind.  Got up and left the house at 4:35 to run 7.29 miles in the neighborhood.  Easy pace, probably no faster than 9:00 but didn't get a time.  Then got in the car and picked up Wade and my nephew Justin, drove down to south Houston for this same 5K I did last year.  This is a fundraiser for the United Negro College Fund, and it is probably one of the better causes out there.  I love the atmosphere and the race is run almost flawlessly.  They were posting finishing times on the computer in real time as the runners came in, so it was easy to get your time and place right off the bat.  Plus a huge enthusiastic crowd at the finish line.

Justin is a first-year dental student, going back to school after working as a ChemE for several years.  He hasn't been training consistently, 32 now but in the day he was a very solid runner, he was on one of the top cross-country teams in Texas, about a 4:30 mile.  I talked him into coming to this race, for which my law firm is a primary sponsor, so he was registered under our umbrella.

We got to the race site at about 7:15 and spent some time getting registered, walking around, and finally ran a warmup mile, which was good because my back was hurting after sitting in a plane all week.  The race started right at 8:00 after a speech from the mayor.  Justin kept wondering what my goal was and I told him probably 7:00, but wasn't really sure because I hadn't run a 5K in this kind of heat before and haven't been doing much speed work.  Really don't know how fast I am.  He said he would pace me and if he felt good he would go for it in the last mile.  That is exactly what he did.  I hung with him for the first 2 miles with him calling out the splits (he had a stopwatch not a Garmin, so his calls were based on the course signs).  Then he pulled away.  There were some other guys running with us but I pulled away from them at about the same time.  The sun was out the last mile and I found myself fading fast, really counting the steps to the end, and hoping I didn't throw up in front of all the folks out for this fundraising walk.  I looked back with about a quarter to go and saw the other guys gaining on me, so I gave it one last push and beat them by 10 to 20 seconds.

Justin won so a good showing for our law firm.  Plus, I can't be accused of bringing in a ringer because without him I would have won.  This race is marketed to corporations rather than to the running community, so even though it has a sizable participation, including around 100 timed runners, there isn't anybody fast out there, although it is hard to tell due to the extreme heat/humidity combination.  One friendly guy that I beat came up and was asking lots of questions about my training, etc.  He is young and I'm sure he has me in his sights for next year.  That is good, I hope he brings lots of fast buddies with him.  Kind of embarassing taking second with a time like this.  Wade measured the course at 3.19 miles, which gives me a 6:45 pace if it is accurate -- I see that I measured it at 6.20 last year.  Official race pace was 6:57 per mile.  I beat my time from last year by 16 seconds and it was 11 degrees warmer today.  So my conditioning is better now despite all the injuries, traveling and illness that has slowed me down this year.  I'm feeling good, recovering quickly from workouts, and overall pretty happy with how everything is going right now with my running.