Did a 5K in 92 degrees today. Target was to hit 35 minutes. And one minute shorter for every break. Eventually managed it in 29 min 41 seconds (9:53 min/mile pace) with two breaks. The sun was beating down mercilessly and there was no relief from any breeze.

At the end, when I sat down to take rest in the shade with water, I was getting flashbacks from that time when after a 18 mile run on a hot day, I opened my eyes to see a firetruck and firemen all around me!

My heartbeat reached 176 (which is 109% of my technical max HR). Even after sitting down for 10 minutes, the heartbeat would still not get down from 120 and I was not feeling totally up to it either. Finally, went inside the car, put the AC in full blast and took my shirt off. That cooled down the body very quickly and got my heartbeat to below 100.

Whew! I think I will try to keep these to a minimum!

Rare picture where both my feet are up in the air!

This morning went for my usual 5K run. The first mile was the normal 11:15 pace. Look what happened after that. The last mile was faster than my race pace last week! Another sub-30 5K.

Not sure what is going on with this sudden fast pace running (by my standards of course). Is it that the race last week after 7 years kind of gave me a sudden jolt? Or is it the excitement of the new trail? The cool temperatures? (it was 59 degree today). My slower speed was going downhill! the faster ones came on the uphills!

More importantly, why is not my body hurting at the end of it?

Was my mind playing games with me all this time and convincing me falsely that my body is getting too old for running?

This is more like my normal pace. I cannot fathom how I shaved 2 minutes per mile in the race. Today’s run had all the elements I love about running – beautiful looking trail, not knowing exactly where I was (it is a new trail) and getting caught in the drizzle for some time. This is why I am going to hate having to give up running some day.

Went for a 5K run. Loved the looks of the Alpha Loop extension that connects Old Milton Parkway (from in front of the post office) to Westside Parkway to Northwinds Parkway to Haynes Bridge.

As if I got so scared at the prospect of replacing my running miles with biking miles, I went ahead and ran a 5K race this morning. The last time I ran in a race was Sep 2017 !! My normal pace these days is 11:30min/mile. Usually the adrenaline rush of the event, the music, the police escorts, so many runners and so on speeds me up by a minute per mile. I was therefore expecting to post a 10:30 pace.

Surprised myself with a 9:26 min/mile pace. I did not think my body is capable of posting those paces anymore. I am sure it will make the real damage known to me when I wake up tomorrow!!

This will bring some concern from John McGehee – my peak heart rate was 179! (that is nearly 110% of my HR Max at an age of 57!)