Sunday, January 14, 2007

Poor planning

I failed miserably in my quest today to progress from 5:40 down to 5:20 pace at the Frostbite 15K in Raynham. As far as mistakes go, however, it wasn't too bad.

After a 5:24-that-felt-like-5:40 first mile, I decided to "not waste good time", as former Kenyan superstud John Ngugi would say, and maintain my effort level as long as it felt comfortable, which ended up being the entire 9.3 miles. I felt fantastic the entire way and I'd like to think I could have went another 4 miles or so without much added undue diress, but I'll wait for March 18 and the New Bedford 1/2 Marathon to see if that holds true.

For you number crunchers, the mile splits from my trusty Timex were as follows: 5:24.77, 5:16.14, 5:15.89, 5:23.93, 5:22.22, 5:17.71, 5:31.52 (hill), 5:15.39, 6:48.73 (5:13 pace for the last 1.3 miles, no 9-mile split) for a total time of 49:37 and a 5:19 average mile.

Although it deviated from the original plan, I was more than happy with today's effort. Placed me fifth out of 413 to boot, out of the money but good enough to win me a heavy duty, full-length ice scraper, which looks as if it will be getting a bit of use this week. More importantly, for the first time in about 2-1/2 years I'm feeling good, feeling strong and having fun. The fire's starting to heat back up again after smoldering for way too long.

That'll do it for tonight - a fine night I might add - as the Patriots booted by the Bolts and move on to face the Colts in an AFC title tilt next Sunday. Fitting, too, that the game was won on a field goal by Adam Vina, er, I mean Stephen Gostkowski. Hey, a Pats' win is a Pats' win. It doesn't matter who gets the credit.

Quote of the day:

At this rate, I'll be in a home in by the end of the year.
- Greg Ward, who is slowly losing it (read the quote closely and you'll see why)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not bad, isn't it great when the fire starts to come back (same here). And Greg Ward, he's had a good run (pun intended) ever since his time at Whitman Hanson. Yup that's right, the boy's an alum.

Jay

Anonymous said...

E bravo zio mario! Nice headspace on solid cardio-legs...

Anonymous said...

Wow, I get a QOTD. Too bad it's for being a buffoon.

Anonymous said...

Nice job Mario. Any chance of an upcoming 'thon?

Anonymous said...

online car insurance
collector car insurance
direct car insurance
car accident insurance
car insurance quote canada
fresno car insurance
car insurance quote canada
car insurance quote uk
admiral car insurance
car insurance quote canada
car insurance houston
discount car insurance
direct line car insurance
allstate car insurance
car insurance quote online uk
best car insurance company
aig car insurance
new jersey car insurance
washington car insurance
auto insurance company
car insurance los angeles
cheap car insurance quote uk
churchil
l car insurance

car insurance policy
admiral car insurance
compare car insurance
best car insurance rate
car insurance for mexico
in car insurance
online car insurance

http://cheap-car-insurance.quickfreehost.com

Random Keyword: :)
car insurance for woman

Anonymous said...

Yo Mario,

I haven't checked out your site in awhile, I was that guy who wanted to check out your logs some time back. I was just reminded of this blog, though, after I cleaned out some old e-mail and saw the subject line "Defar, Hayes ON TAP for Boston Reebok Indoor Games" (emphasis mine haha). Couldn't help but be reminded of certain writing idiosyncracies of yours!!

P.S. Where did you get Casey Moulton's log...love that quote!

Mike