Saturday I had the opportunity to run with a bunch of Riverview Elementary’s young athletes in the Riverview Technology Run.  It was great to see their determination in the 1k run and for many of them again in the 5k.  Way to go kids!!  I look forward to watching you progress as athletes over the coming years.

The Wausau Distance Project 2012 brochure/registration is updated and ready to go.  I’ve added in a new feature for this year, allowing athletes to have some individualized attention one day per week instead of the large group meeting.

Check out the WDP Page.

Saturday was the 3rd annual Big Bull Falls 5k.  I’ve just run a tempo pace the past 2 years, but this year wanted to push and see how fast I could go.  It was nice weather and I had a couple weeks off from racing now that the date was moved to March 24th.  It helped that Steve F. showed-up for the race as he is normally faster than I am and would push me to the pace I wanted.  We ran a nice even race and stayed side by side right to the finish, deciding about a 1/2 mile out to just finish together running a time of 16:31.  I’m happy with being able to run 5:15 pace right now and would hope I could get this down to 5:00-5:05 by summers end if I tried.

Most of my focus now will be on the bike though as I’ve neglected that over the winter.

Today I finished 7th in the 5 mile Point Bock Run.  27:56 overall with splits of 5:32, 5:46, 5:38, 5:30, 5:31  I completely lost touch with my pace during the 2nd mile when I allowed someone else to go in front of me.  I tucked in to let them block the wind and our pace slowed down.  I felt strong over the last 2 miles, which is a plus, but I’m not pleased with the overall time.  I thought my workouts had my better prepared for this race.  I wasn’t spent at the end, but also don’t have much speed right now.  I’ll be working on that more over the next couple months.

Today was the Stomp The Swamp at Nine Mile Forest.  Conditions weren’t the best, but not bad for the lack of snow this year.  Jay did a great job preping the course for us.  This was my 3rd year racing the 12k course, so it’s a good measure for my current fitness level.  I was able to run very steady overall, maintaining a consistant pace all the way thru.  This should put me back on track for where I was 2 years ago.  I finished in 50:40 about a minute ahead of 2nd place and about a minute slower than my time from 2 years ago.  Conditions were pretty slow in a couple spots, so I’m confident I’m ready to run 5:30 pace on the roads.  I’ll get my chance to find out next Saturday at the Point Bock Run.  Congrats to all the Racers today!!