BLOOMSDAY 2006

For those of you that don't know Bloomsday is one of the largest timed races in the country. This was the 30 th year for this race here in Spokane. It draws world class runners and wheelchair athletes from all over the world. As has been the case for the last several years the Kenyans won. This is an odd distance 12 km/7.46 mi road race with some pretty tough hills and > 40000 runners. I think the biggest year was like 67000. Anyway this was my 2nd year running the race and I beat last years time by over 4 min. with a time of 54:59. My goal was to break 55 min which I barely did. It's amazing what a few seconds can make. On my watch I had my time at 55:02 and I was so dissappointed. but when the offical results were posted and I saw that I actually beat my goal I was so pumped. 3 seconds difference and I went from feeling like a failure to king of the world. Amazing what your ego can do to you, if you let it. After the race,and a nap,food etc. I went for another run this was a slow 9 miler. I did this in lew of the 26 I was supposed to run according to my marathon training plan. All in all a good day.

END OF APRIL

Well another month has come and gone. Been working hard main on running but did get out on the bike a few times.
Running: 129.8 miles
Time: 18h 28m 22s
Avg. Pace: 8:32/mile
MTN BIKE: 10.3 miles
Time: 1h 31m 27s
Avg. Pace: 8:51/mile
NEW BIKE CYCLING: 35.9 miles
Time: 2h 25m 56s
Avg. Pace: 4:04/mileI can't wait until this marathon is over. I'm looking forward to training for Troika 1/2 IM in August. But now the focus is only on the marathon. Still a little worried, not that I'll finish, I know I will, barring anything weird. But will I be able to break 4 hrs??? that's the big ???? The shorter races I've been doing have been great in that my pace has been nearl a full minute faster than last year. But the longest race was a 10k 3 weeks ago and my pace was 7:16. But on the long runs on Sundays my pace @ ~9-9:30. with my longest run being 20 miles. Just not sure how it will all hold together at sub 9 min pace for 26.2. but I guess we'll find out soon eneough, 28 days to be exact.