Summer is Officially Here

As of 10:16 AM on Wednesday, the days are officially getting shorter. I can't believe how quickly the first half of the year flew by. But, it did.

In personal running news, weekly track intervals feel like they are paying off. Despite last night's barbeque, I ran my 3 mile loop at a nice 8:41 pace this AM. That's the fastest I've done the 3 mile loop since late April. I'm nowhere near my historical speed bests, but at least I'm headed in the right direction.

I must say, training for a 10K is much more manageable than training for a marathon. First, the overall mileage commitment is lower, so it takes less large chunks of time and sleep. Second, and perhaps the more enjoyable reason, you get to run faster, so the miles you do take less time than if you were doing them in marathon training.

Last night, I hid from the start of BBQ and watched the US outdoor track and field championships Women's 10K. Shalane Flannigan went out alone and stayed there to finish just under 31 minutes (30:59.97) -- I hadn't seen her run before, but I now understand why she is referred to as the current best U.S. female distance runner. Kara Goucher ran a great race for second (31:16.65) and Jennifer Rhines held on for third (31:30.37) after Kara dropped her, pushing to keep her lead when she saw Desi behind her on the big screen. Desiree Davila (one of my heroes) met the Class A standard time and a set a huge PR (31:37.14) for a solid 4th place. If any of the first three women are unable to run at World's Desi will have the opportunity take their place.

Tonight is the 5K, which I'd love to watch. The start list includes many of the 10K folks. Shalane promised to give it her all, while Kara indicated she may not run it if her coach doesn't think it's a good idea. Desi is on the list, and I'd love to see her run because she's almost certain to PR again and I'd like to see her show her stuff in a shorter race. Since she isn't guaranteed a spot on the 10K team, she may be willing to go all out in the 5K in a way that no one has seen her do in competition before. Unfortunately, the race is only available on TV (which we don't have).

In all honesty, it's probably for the best that I can't get sucked into all track and field, all night. The end of June is a rough time on a transactional attorney. I have way more to do than I have time to do it. So, now that I've finished my workout, today and tonight promises to be nothing more than working through a large list of work tasks. I'll fit in a couple of breaks for a healthy dinner (yumm leftover roasted veggies and beets from BBQ) before doing some yoga and heading to sleep.

Tomorrow, after a quick trip to the track for intervals, we're headed to beautiful San Diego for a wedding (and maybe, if I'm lucky, we'll be in the hotel during one of the re-plays of the 5K).