Around and around we go ....

Howdy, folks. Wow. It's been awhile. Work, running, and our reception on Oct. 8 (How did I find myself making "goodie bags" for out-of-town guests?!) have been keeping me tres busy.

Sorry if this is a bit on the terse side - gotta keep typing before I poop out for the night. I am plumb wore-out, as they say down in the holler. I only had 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night. It's 10:35 and I'm trying to keep my eyes open just long enough so I can take a shower and eat dinner.

Tonight I had my first track workout at a local high school with my running club: 3-4 X 1600 between 5K and 10K pace (400-meter recovery), then 1-2 X 400 at 5K pace.

It was a beautiful late summer evening. A couple of Pop Warner teams were scrimmaging on the field as we and two other running clubs shared the track. It felt great to run there, by the way. I'd forgotten how cushy the track is.

Whooosh!: About 40 of us gathered for the workout. There was a good mix of men and women, with a ratio of about 3:2. A good two-thirds of the runners were quite the speedsters. I overheard one guy with about 3 percent body fat and surfer-shaggy brown hair saying his mile-splits were 5:29. Alrighty, then!

I kept pace with my 10K running coach from this past spring (who's training for the Marine Corps Marathon next month) for the first two mile intervals, then did a slightly slower 3rd mile. That tells me that I went out a bit too fast for the first two miles. Here's how they broke down (avg pace). By the way, we were running English miles, whatever that means:

1st mile: 7:46
2nd mile: 7:52
3rd mile: 7:55?

The pace was a bit faster than my 5K pace, but I didn't feel overtaxed. In fact, I was surprised to find myself passing a few people. Hmmm ... was it the coffee I drank this afternoon? The bouncy track? The camaraderie of running (somewhat) fast with other runners?

Or was it just a fluke?! Who knows. I could be hobbling tomorrow.

I opted out of the fourth mile, as I wanted to ease myself into these speed workouts. Plus, I forgot to bring any water with me and my mouth and throat were as dry as the Sahara. I looked longingly at other runners' cold water and Gatorade bottles. Finally, I asked one kind-looking woman for a sip of her water, and she graciously shared. Which saved me.

I finished by doing one 400-meter interval. Not sure how fast or slow I went, but given my somewhat labored breathing, I'd say around 1:55. Bleah.