I have to imagine

Thursday, 9/13--Borough run.  Arrived late today.  Here we go again.  I could see the crew at the top of the first hill as I turned into the parking lot to park.  Even though they were close to 25-thick, they were well out of sight as I got out of my car to begin the run.  I spent the first two miles catching up with them.  As I passed Betsy, she told me that the plan for the crew, which was still well ahead, was to do 45 second pick-ups--on 45 seconds, off 45 seconds.  I reached the group just in time for the pick-ups.  I wondered whether my legs would be okay for the pick-ups, given the pace I had to run to catch up with the group.  I was fine as it turned out.  The pick-ups were sooo doable.  I was shoulder to shoulder with Kevin.  Also in the group were the three Johns, Scott Burns, Steve, and someone else.  The pick-ups stopped two blocks shy of the turn towards Henderson HS.  Our jog didn't feel all that fast.  I reached the 4M mark (the "new" one, which is a bit after what I thought was the 4M mark) in 27:35; their watches likely read close to 29:00, given their head start. This means my overall pace for the 4 miles was in the neighborhood of 6:54.  We ran a comfortable pace for the remainder of the loop, and I ended in 57:15.  Sooo.
0-2.1M: regular running (I reached the tennis courts in 14:35)--6:57 pace
2.1M-3.85M: pick-ups (6x45sec) 14:35-26:20--6:47 pace
3.85M-7.9M: regular running 26:20-57:15--7:37 pace

Wednesday, 9/12--Went to the Y.  Alternated between miles and lifting: 16 laps on the little track, lift, treadmill, lift, 16 laps, lift, treadmill, lift, 16 laps...HOME. The mile runs were: 6:59, 6:56, 6:53, 6:53,6:35.  Each session of lifting was 3 minutes.  This easy, recovery day was good.

Tuesday, 9/11--Today at Henderson we did 5x1000 with a 200 meter jog-rest after each. I was pleased to run with the second groups today...perhaps to give myself a little confidence.  I ran with the 17:30-18:00 5K group.  This includes Joe Breslin, Rachel, and another woman whose name escapes me.  I felt refreshed throughout the workout; I was not dead afterwards. That's a good sign. Our runs were a little slower, but that's ok: 3:44, 3:42, 3:40, 3:38, 3:28.  I held back on all these runs.  It was funny that Rachel asked during one of the repeats whether I was breathing!  That's another good sign.  I have been working on my breathing and not laboring.  I have to imagine that I am on my way to keeping up with group 1 again.