My hands were burning!

Tuesday, 12/14--hills. 20 degrees, plus 30-40 mph wind gusts. Single digits wind chill. Ouch. Sore hamstring. Warmed up 1.7 (14 min), stretched (7 min) did 8 hills on Shiloh (21 min), cooled down 1.7 (15 min). About a 1-hour workout. Runs were: 60,58,60,60,60,59,60,57. Not quite as strong as last week's hills, but this was okay given the temp and the wind.

Monday, 12/13--4.4 recovery Rustin-plus loop. 17:15/16:30-->33:15. Quite cold. Sore left hamstring.

Sunday, 12/12--first meet--Glen Mills. Got there too early (a little after 9). Should've gotten there at 9:30 or so. Did not run until about 10:45. Should've eaten a little more breakfast.Didn't sleep well. Got up at 6ish. I put down 2:10 as my seed time. That was my goal. The day was mild but rather wet from the heavy raid over the last couple of days.

"Lane 6"--first person, front line...up....There were four up on the front line. There were 5 on the back line. I got out fairly aggressively and beat everyone to the cone. I heard 31/32 at the 200. I was running relaxed. I heard 64/65 at the 400. I wanted to hold pace, so I ran a little harder on the back stretch. I heard 1:37 at the 600. I was still in the lead. On the back stretch, I felt a challenge coming on. The guy came along side me. I assumed he was going to fade, but he kicked into another gear and passed me. I went to my arms as I was going into the final turn. I then saw Dave Brown on my shoulder. With about 60 to go, he passed me. I came to a near jog during the last 5 meters; I did not run through the finish. I ran 2:11 mid FAT. Dave ran 2:10-high. The winner ran 2:10-mid.

I felt pretty good afterwards. I finished the race and began cooling down before the next heat could begin.

My splits: 31/32, 64/65(33), 1:37/1:38(33), 2:11(33). An even race. Now, I just have to drop each 200 by 1 second by early January and then a second after than by early February and then a half-second after that by early March. Ambitious, I know.

Saturday, 12/11--warmed up 1.25 mi, stretched, did 110 strides on the practice football field at 800 race pace (15s/16s), cooled down .75 mi.