Updated – My Current Running Gear
Updated with new “minimalist” shoes and new sunglasses.
Updated – My Current Running Gear
Updated with new “minimalist” shoes and new sunglasses.
That’s a great looking shoe! Is it cheaper than the Kinvara? What colors will be available? I guess I could just Google it. 🙂
MSRP will be $90 » Colors for Men include:
Running Warehouse – Spring 2013 Preview – Saucony Virrata
This is a new training shoe from Saucony that I’m seriously looking forward to. Only 6.5 ounces and 0-drop from heel to toe. I have been running in the Kinvara for the past two years, but am definitely going to give this one a try when it comes out next spring.
Friday:
After completing last night’s track workout with a 106° heat index, I ended up felling pretty tired throughout the run this morning. Nathan, Josh, and I met at Bellevue Church of Christ for a 45-minute recovery run through the streets of Bellevue, and as usual for Friday I did this run in my Saucony Hattoris.
I trudged through the first 30-minutes with Josh and Nathan, but decided to fall back for the final 15 as they picked up the pace a bit. Once I caught up to them at the end we did 6 x 100m stride outs in the church parking lot. As has been the case lately, Nathan and Josh blew past me like I was sitting still. Even though I was tired today, I was pleased that my legs didn’t have much residual soreness from the track workout last night.
In total I completed just under 5.25-miles with the strides, at an average pace of 9:09 per mile.
Saturday:
This morning our group joined the Nashville Striders for their “Bongo to Bongo” training run. This is a 14-mile route that starts at Bongo Java in East Nashville, heads toward Bongo Java near Belmont University, and completes a loop in the Belmont area (that was previously part of the Country Music Marathon course) before heading back.
The run was scheduled to start at 6:30am, but since most of this route is exposed with no shade, Dan suggested that we start earlier at 6:00am. There were several from our group that got there early, and I ended up running most of the route with Dan and Mary. My schedule called for 16-miles easy today, so I just planned on running a couple extra at the end.
Fortunately we ended up with a good amount of cloud cover, so the sun was never an issue. However the humidity was over 90% throughout the run, which made things tough. For the first four miles of the run I just flat-out felt tired like I did on Friday. It seemed like Dan and Mary were dragging me along. We started off fairly conservative with a first mile of 9:35, but the pace quickly dropped down into the mid-to-low 8:00s through the next three miles.
As we were running uphill through Music Row during mile five I started thinking about just dropping back and letting them go on ahead. At the same time I remembered something that Saucony posted on their Facebook page this week. It said “Never make a decision on an uphill.”
With that in mind, I decided to wait on making the decision to drop back until we crested the hill. When we got to the top I started feeling a lot better, and then I kept feeling better throughout mile six, and fell into a great rhythm. Just before we reached the normal turnaround for the route, Dan asked if we minded doing an extra loop to add a little distance. Since I needed two additional miles anyway, this sounded a lot better than doing them at the end.
The loop he took us on was completely new to me, but I really enjoyed it. When we got back to Belmont Boulevard we ran into some other members of our group who had started later along with the rest of the runners from the Nashville Striders. For miles two through 13 our splits all fell within a range of 8:38 to 7:59 per mile, with the majority being in the mid to lower part of the range.
For miles 14 and 15, we intentionally slowed the pace a bit and ran back toward Bongo East with Amaya from our group. During mile 16 up Woodland Street I picked the pace back up a bit to see how things would feel on tired legs. Overall I still felt great, and I only needed about 1/2-mile to complete my scheduled 16 when I got back to Bongo East. In total I finished just over 16-miles with an average pace of 8:24 per mile.
For the week I completed 54 total miles, which is the third time out of the past six weeks that I’ve crossed the 50-mile mark. Also this week I passed 1,300 total miles for the year, which is 493-miles ahead of where I was at the same point last year.
Beast Mode….ON!
My current Saucony Hattoris are just about at the end of their useful life, and I’m facing the dilemma or re-ordering the exact same thing again (which they will continue to offer) or trying the new Hattori LC (with laces) that was just released today…
Per Saucony, the laces were added to provided a more snug and secure fit than the velcro overlay from the original model. However, this has never been a problem for me with the original. The other change Saucony made was to re-enforce the material over the toe to reduce wear. This was by far my biggest complaint with the original, but is only addressed in the new LC version with the laces.
What to do? What to do? I think I’m leaning toward trying the LC, but probably won’t order until next week.
After last night’s boiling hot workout at the track, it was nice to get in a super chilled pace recovery run this morning with Nathan through Bellevue. This was the first time in 2 1/2 weeks that I’ve run in my Saucony Hattoris. I had taken a temporary break from “barefoot” type running since I started having shin splint twinges in my right leg. Now that I’m essentially symptom free I’ve decided to slowly start re-introducing it back into my schedule.
Even though it was not 102º like last night, it was still very warm and muggy even at 6am. This was probably the easiest paced run I’ve done on the road in 2012, but it felt really good to just take it very easy. The good news is that I didn’t feel any residual soreness from last night’s workout, and do not seem to be suffering any lasting effects from my brief illness in the middle of the week.
In total we finished 4-miles with an average pace of 9:37 per mile. Tomorrow, our group is planning on a long trail run, so it should be a good test for my legs.
Beast Mode…ON!
A few days ago, the RW Daily blog on RunnersWorld.com posted a quiz which contained a mixed list of running shoe and prescription drug names to see if you could distinguish between the two. While I didn’t think this quiz was particularly hard, I did like the graphic that went along with it which is posted above.
I ended up with early-morning work meetings today, so I decided to just decided delay my run until the afternoon. I guess I could have started at 5:00am but knew this would not be smart based on how things went yesterday. My run yesterday morning was less than stellar, and for some reason I just felt tired all day. With this in mind, I didn’t want to compound my fatigue by having to get up super-early.
With all that being said….I hate, hate, HATE it when I can’t get my run done in the morning for at least three reasons:
(1) It usually means that my run will cut into family time (in this case I was not able to eat dinner with them before we had to be ready for mid-week worship)
(2) It almost always means that it will be a solo run, without my friends Nathan or Paxton (again this was the case today)
(3) During the Spring and Summer it is often very warm in the late afternoon
The only good thing about today was that it gave my body a little more time to rest, and I could really tell the difference from yesterday. My schedule called for 60 minutes at easy pace, and I decided to make this a Hattori run through the streets of Bellevue.
Even though it was hot, I knew immediately that things would be better than yesterday. My legs felt pretty fresh, and the aches and stiffness I felt on the trails yesterday were mostly gone. After a first mile of 9:02, I settled into a very comfortable rhythm in the low 8:00s (and even one 7:58) for the remainder of the run.
As I was finishing mile two on Sawyer Brown Road, I saw an older gentleman riding a bicycle headed my way. I gave him a courtesy wave just as we were about to pass, and then he yelled “Wanna Run Together Sometime?” I had never laid eyes on this man before and was a little taken back by this question. Stammering for an answer I blurted out “maybe” and just kept running. I turned my head briefly and saw that he also kept riding. No idea what that was about.
Anyway, for 60-minutes I completed 7.29-miles at an average pace of 8:15 per mile.
Beast Mode….ON!
On a side note, I have now put 240 miles on my Saucony Hattoris. Since the Hattori has a mostly foam outsole (as opposed to rubber), I really thought it would wear down very quickly. The irony is that today my big toe finally wore a hole in the sock-like upper, but the outsole is still going strong. The hole in the upper is fairly uncomfortable, so I guess this means it is time for a replacement. I’m really curious about the new Hattori LC (with laces), but these do not come out for another three weeks. Not sure how many more miles I can get out of my current pair before they become unwearable.
Some days you’ve got it….some days you don’t. Today was clearly one of those days where I did NOT have it. However, I’m not down about it all, because before this I’ve had the longest string of days where I DID have it in my running life.
The schedule for this morning called for 45-minutes easy with 6 x 100m stride outs at the end. Nathan and I decided to meet at the Edwin Warner Nature Center and run 22 1/2 minutes out-and-back on the Candy Cane and Red Trails between Edwin and Percy Warner Parks. I could tell from the outset that my body was just not going to cooperate. The humidity was still very high and my legs felt heavy and achy.
I spent the whole run trying to maintain pace with Nathan, especially going up the steep hills on the red trail (still had over 1,100 ft of elevation gain even though it was just a 45-minute run), but eventually just let him go. It didn’t help that three times during the run I had to stop and re-tie the laces on my Saucony Peregrines. I love these shoes, but the stock laces have got to be the worst ever included on a pair of trail shoes. I absolutely cannot keep them tied, even with double knots. Any of my trail-running friends out there have a recommendation for a good pair of replacement laces?
Love the symmetry of the out-and-back on the elevation chart
Anyway, I started to feel slightly better on the way back to the Nature Center, but coming back was mostly downhill and much easier than going out. At the end of the trail portion my total was 4.5-miles completed at just under 10-minute pace. We finished up with stride outs in the parking lot of the Nature Center. Recently Nathan has been blowing by me on the strides, but today I was able to keep up with him through the first 3 reps. However, for the final 3, he again blew past me like I was sitting still. My average pace for the strides was 5:48.
Final total was 4.9-miles completed at 9:40 average pace per mile.
Beast Mode….flickering…..flickering……flickering……ON!
Running Warehouse has just posted a sneak peak of the upcoming Saucony Peregrine 3 trail shoe, which is set to drop in March 2013. I am currently running trails in the first Peregrine and will probably not need a new pair until the first of next year (perfect timing)!
The great thing is that Saucony did not change the awesome platform between the initial offering and the Peregrine 2 released earlier this year. According to Running Warehouse, the same thing will be true for the Peregrine 3. All of the changes will again be focused on the upper, which will gain the same flexfilm overlays used in the Kinvara 3. While they don’t list the weight specs, I’m hoping this will result in a lower total weight from the previous two versions.
I’m somewhat intrigued by the upcoming Kinvara TR because it weighs just over 8 ounces. However, I’m not sure that it would be a great shoe for the types of trails we typically run. If the Peregrine could lose a little weight, I could have the best of both worlds!
In addition to all of this, the new color in the picture above is SICK! What do you think?
Update: Per Matt with Running Warehouse, the Peregrine 3 will be 9.9 ounces for Men’s size 9 which is a few tenth’s lighter than the Peregrine 2.
Those who have followed my blog for a while know that I’m a big Saucony fan. Earlier today Running Warehouse posted an entry on their blog about a new lightweight trainer coming from Saucony in early 2013, that will be called the Virrata. Per the post It will be …
(1) Zero drop from heel to toe with only 18mm of material in the outsole.
(2) 6.5 oz for men’s size 9
(3) Very flexible due to deep grooves in the outsole (think Nike Free)
Even though I’m pretty content with the Kinvara as my everyday, lightweight trainer, the Virrata is kind of intriguing to me. Since I’m trying to become more of a mid-foot striker, the zero-drop design is appealing. Also, it will be a full ounce lighter than the Kinvara, and actually looks a LOT more like the original Kinvara than the current Kinvara 3 (Notice the laces and the the upper). Doesn’t look like it will be able to match the Kinvara in the style department, but might be worth taking a look next spring.
What do you think?
The nasty storms last night left us with two things this morning (1) Cooler temperatures (2) A dense fog. While the fog was obviously a sign of high humidity, it was nice to run in temperatures around 60 degrees.
My schedule this morning called for 60-minutes easy with 6 x 100m stride outs. Nathan and I met in Percy Warner Park next to the Steeplechase course and ran a 2-mile loop through PW before heading over to Edwin Warner for miles 3 through 7. It was a good thing that Nathan wore his “ViZiPRO” colored Saucony Kinvara 2s this morning to help lead us through the fog 🙂
We took the first two miles very easy with splits of 9:16 and 8:55. Unlike yesterday, I was feeling quite a bit of soreness from P90X Legs and Back on Monday, so it took me a little longer to get everything loosened up. Beginning with mile three, we settled into a nice rhythm and cranked out splits of 7:46 (mostly downhill), 8:08, 8:08, and 8:08 for miles 3 through 6. These miles felt very comfortable and relaxed and it was cool to keep seeing 8:08 pop-up on my Garmin. Mile seven was mostly uphill so our time increased slightly to 8:31.
By the end of our 60 minutes we had completed just over seven miles and were back in Percy Warner Park. We finished our 6 x 100m stride outs at just under 6:30 pace, and my leg soreness was very noticeable when trying to run fast. However, my soreness always peaks two days after doing a P90X workout, so things should be much better by time for our track workout tomorrow night.
Anyway, our final total was 7.53-miles completed at 8:18 average pace. As always, it was another enjoyable run with Nathan.
Beast Mode…ON!
I wasn’t able to get in my schedule 30-minute easy paced run before work this morning, so I decided to hit the streets of Bellevue for a run in my Saucony Hattoris after putting the kids to bed tonight. We had a pretty nasty storm move through Nashville shortly after 5:00pm, which cooled things off a bit into the low 70s, but cranked up the humidity to 11…
Even with the intense humidity, my legs still felt fantastic. No leftover fatigue from the tempo run yesterday, and very little residual soreness from P90X Legs and Back last night. For the thirty minutes I completed 3.83-miles at an average pace of 7:51 per mile. This is a little bit faster than most of my recent “easy” or “barefoot” Hattori runs, but it felt very comfortable. Each mile was progressively faster throughout the run.
Beast Mode…ON!
Last Updated October 12, 2012
Running Shoes – All Saucony, All The Time (Find Your Strong!)
Training Shoe – Saucony Kinvara 3
Considering how much I LOVED the Saucony Kinvara 2, I was extremely nervous about all of the changes in the Kinvara 3. However I now think that the K3 is even more perfect for me than the K2. The new features I like best in the 3 include:
Minimal Shoe – Saucony Hattori LC
About a year ago I started running one day per week in the very minimal, original Saucony Hattori (4.4 oz) with the goal of strengthening my feet and lower legs. Since adding these “barefoot” type runs to my schedule I have been able to get rid of all my orthotics and have moved from the bulky Nike Vomero to the Saucony Kinvara as my day-to-day training shoe. Now I usually run one or two days per week in them. The Hattori LC improves on the original with the addition of laces and a little more reinforcement on top of the toe (which was a problem for me in the original).
Trail Shoe – Saucony Peregrine
The Peregrine is made on the same last as the Kinvara, so this seemed like the perfect trail shoe for me when it came out last spring. Just like the “barefoot” runs mentioned above I also try to get in at least one trail run per week to help with lower body strength and balance. The only problem I have with the Peregrine is keeping the laces tied (I need to change them out), but otherwise love this shoe. Great traction and stability, even on rough terrain. Even though the Peregrine 2 came about this spring I probably will not need another trail shoe until next season. I’m curious about the Kinvara TR, but I wonder if it will be substantial enough to handle the trails at Percy and Edwin Warner Parks.
Apparel
Shorts, Tops, & Tights – Pearl Izumi & Lululemon
While I wear lots of different brands while running, by far my two favorite are Pearl Izumi and Lululemon. If I had to pick between the two I’d probably choose Pearl Izumi for two reasons (1) They have lots of colors for men (2) Their fabric tends to be a little lighter and dry faster. As much as I love Lululemon, it baffles me why they don’t have more colors for men. Most everything is only available in various shades of gray.
Socks – RRS DryMax Dry-As-A-Bone Medium Low
I LOVE these socks. Have been running in them almost since the beginning and have NEVER had a blister while wearing them. One pair tends to last me for about two seasons as long as I have several pair in the rotation.
Accessories
I switched from Oakley to Tifosi last year for three reasons (1) They are super lightweight and do not slip (2) The red lenses work well in lots of different light conditions, even when running trails under a tree canopy. They are also fototec lenses that get darker as the conditions are brighter. (3) There is a slit at the top of each lens which helps to prevent fogging up.
I have a love/hate relationship with this watch. The “touch bezel” is just horrible. It will not work when it is wet so I’m forced to keep the bezel locked while running. If I don’t lock it, it will just start doing random things as my arms move. Over time I’ve learned to manage the bezel, though it is frustrating to not be able to manually change screens during a run. Other than the bezel, it has a nice feature set, and does just about everything I need a running watch to do. It is much more comfortable and lightweight than my previous Garmin 305. At one point I was having trouble with the battery life, but corrected this by charging it only when it is fully drained. Note….The 410 corrects the bezel problem.
Friday
After a hard effort at track last night, today’s scheduled 50 minute run was a very, very easy shakeout run through Bellevue in my Saucony Hattoris. The weather was awesome with sunny skies and temps in the low 50s. This felt very nice after the hot conditions last week and early this week.
As the run started my legs and ankles felt pretty achey, so I kept everything extremely chill with an initial mile of 10:15. Slowly the aches and soreness began to leave my legs and the run ended with things feeling much better than when I started. I guess this is the sign of an effective shakeout effort. Overall I got in just over 5 miles in the 50 minutes with an average pace of 9:48 per mile. I haven’t gone back and checked, but I’m guessing this is one of my slowest runs of the year (if not the slowest).
Saturday
Our group run this morning consisted of the 11.2-mile main drive through Percy Warner Park. This is a busy day for the park because of the annual Steeplechase horse race (which is more of a socialite / partying event than a race), and we were hoping to be able to run by the course before the crowds started rolling in.
My schedule called for 12 to 14-miles at an easy pace, and I was initially hoping to land in the upper part of this range by adding a little extra before or after the group run. The temps were again very mild with overcast skies and temps in the mid 50s. I was only able to get in about a 1/4 mile before the group started, but just figured I would add a little bit to the end.
Our pace started off very easy and we slowly picked it up throughout the run with some fluctuation due to the significant elevation changes (a single loop of the 11.2 has a cumulative 1,500 ft of elevation gain). My overall pace for the run was 8:45 per mile with a range from 10:10 at the start to 7:54 at the finish. Throughout the run my legs felt very good, even when going up some of the more significant climbs. However, even though my legs felt great, I could tell that my body was tired and I decided to not try and push the run to 14-miles. I added just a bit to the end of the group run to finish with 12-miles total and am happy with the decision to not keep going.
Right now I’m in the middle of a couple of easy recovery weeks before John and I get started on more targeted training for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in October. For some reason this has put me in a bit of a reflective mood. My total mileage was just under 44-miles on an “easy” week, and that made think back to when I first started running. I remember the first official running goal I set was to complete 10-miles over 3-weeks. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined running 44-miles in a week, much less 50, or 60+.
Beast Mode…ON!
Since I felt so bad during my 50 minute, easy paced run yesterday, it was great to have an awesome track workout tonight with the JSRC. After a 2-mile warmup and 6 x 100m stride outs we did…
^For these we run 200m on the track, then recovery across the midfield point of the infield. Each interval (run + recovery) is supposed to be executed in a set amount of time between 65 and 90 seconds. For me tonight the time was 66 seconds for all 4 repeats. This was 40 seconds for the 200m with 26 second recovery across the grass. All intervals are done continuous.
I ran the warmup and all the intervals tonight with Nathan McCall who has been running with our group since last fall. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Nathan, and it was fun to run with him tonight. We took turns leading interval laps and were able to maintain fairly consistent splits throughout. Even with a pretty hard effort, I felt really good all the way to the end, which was a big confidence boost after the crummy day yesterday.
With a 1-mile cool down, my total mileage for the night was just over 7.5-miles. Tomorrow’s schedule calls for 50 minutes at an easy pace followed by 12 to 14-miles easy on Saturday.
Beast Mode…ON!
P.S. After tonight’s workout I retired another pair of Saucony Kinvara 2s just as they reached 400 total miles. I know lots of runners have problems with durability on the Kinvara and Kinvara 2, but this has definitely not been the case with me. These shoes have taken me through 2 marathons and 2 half marathons along with a lot of training miles on the road. Probably could get a few more miles out of them had I not worn holes in the top of the toe-box just over my big toes. Still have one pair of Kinvara and one pair of Kinvara 2s in my current rotation along with one more pair of Kinvara 2s still in the box. Also can’t wait to try the new Kinvara 3. Find Your Strong!
Well….today’s planned 18-holes at Hampton Cove in Huntsville was again a washout. So our 3-day, 72-hole golf trip turned into a 3-day, 46-hole golf trip. However, we still had a good time and I was able able to get in my scheduled 50-minute easy run earlier than expected this afternoon once I got home.
I decided to run in my Saucony Hattoris because I had not used them since last Wednesday. Overall I would say this was the worst I’ve felt on a run in a while, though it was kind of up and down throughout.
The first 10 minutes I felt tired, my legs were stiff, and my pace hovered around 9:30. I’m guessing this had something to do with playing 36-holes of golf yesterday followed by a 60 minute run. I briefly thought about just turning around and running home, but decided to give it a few more minutes to see if things improved. Well, they did improve dramatically for the next 20 minutes, and my pace dropped into the 8:20s. Then…BAM…I started feeling tired again and for the next 20 minutes my pace slowed back toward 9:00. Finally, I felt pretty good during the last 10 minutes and my pace dropped back down toward 8:30.
Looking back a few hours later I know that I was already tired when I started the run. Also, when I think back through my day, the only fluid I had consumed prior to the run was caffeinated coffee and iced tea. Not exactly good hydration for an afternoon run with full sun and temps in the mid 70s.
Whatever the case, the run is in the books and tomorrow will be another day.
Beast Mode…ON!
Even though tonight’s run was with the JSRC at the Vanderbilt track (as usual), I did not participate in the normal workout due to the Country Music Marathon on Saturday. My schedule called for 4 easy miles with 4 x 100m stride outs. I ended up with just over 5-miles around the track in my Saucony Hattoris trying to keep the pace around what I will need for the 4-hour pace group on Saturday. My first mile was in small segments since I stopped frequently to open the lane gates around the track. The final four were continuous laps with Bill and Jenny who are also running on Saturday. After these easy laps my need for speed was screaming, so the final stride outs were around 5:10 pace. The weather was warm and humid tonight, which I guess is good practice for Saturday since the forecast looks nasty.
Overall things felt good during the run, though I did have a few aches to work through in the first mile. Early this morning I was walking through our bathroom and slipped and fell awkwardly on a wet spot on the tile floor. While nothing was hurt badly, I did twist my knee and stretch my hip in a funny way as I fell. My knee and hip flexor felt sore during that first mile of the run, but thankfully this quickly subsided and was not an issue. In related news, a few minutes after my fall, Olivia had an accident of her own. She was putting up clean dishes into our kitchen cabinets and dropped a glass as she was reaching up to an overhead shelf. The glass fell to the counter below, bounced, and shattered directly into her hand. Even though she had to pick pieces of glass out of her hand, luckily none of the cuts were bad enough to need stitches (though she was in obvious pain).
I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ve gotten all of the accidents out of our system for today at least 🙂
Well, it is finally Country Music Marathon race week and honestly this feels much different than any other marathon race week so far. Normally I’m in the final part of my taper (bouncing off the walls) and very nervous about my strategy or an ambitious time goal. For this race the “goal” is to actually run my slowest marathon so far. As the 4-hour pacer I’m supposed to finish the race between 3:59:00 and 3:59:59. This would be my slowest finish time by 6 minutes (3:53 in my first marathon – Chicago 2009) and slower than my last marathon (3:12 – NOLA 2012) by 47 minutes.
All of this leads me to a bit of uncertainty about what Saturday will be like. Part of me thinks this will be like a long, slow, training run and that maybe I’ll be able to enjoy a marathon for a change. Another part of me wonders how well I’m going to deal with being on my feet for almost 4-hours in the aerobic heart-rate zone when I have never done a run this long before (by time). Whatever the case, it is guaranteed to be a new experience all the way around, and I’m looking forward to it.
While this week will not be a complete taper, my total mileage M-F has been slightly reduced the past two weeks. For this week I’ll actually be taking Wednesday off in addition to my normal Sunday rest day. Today’s schedule called for 4-miles easy with 4 x 100m stride outs at the end. This morning was cool and windy with temps around 40 degrees. I wish that the cooler temps would hang around for a while, but weather predictions are for temps in the 80s on Saturday (Yuck).
Since I will not be running on Wednesday, I decided to do today’s run in my Saucony Hattoris. This was a solo run through Bellevue, and I really just made up the route as I went along. I didn’t really feel comfortable during the first two miles, so my pace lagged around 8:45. At the beginning of the third mile my legs finally started to feel good and my pace dropped to just under 8:00 for the final two. I finished up with stride outs in the Bellevue Church of Christ parking lot which felt a bit strange due to the strong winds. One direction I was getting a good push and the other direction was like running with a parachute behind me.
Overall, it was a good easy-paced run that I hope will get me ready for a harder effort tomorrow.
Beast Mode…ON!
Today’s schedule was for an easy 4-miles with 6 x 100m stride outs at the end. I met Nathan at Bellevue Church of Christ after he had already completed 3 miles. As usual for Friday I ran in my Saucony Hattoris. This was by far my easiest-paced run of the week with miles one and two in the 9:40s and miles 3 and 4 in the 9:10s. I think the reason for the slow pace was two-fold:
At the finish of the 4-mile loop through Bellevue, we did our stride outs in the church parking lot, and ran them pretty hard (5:40ish pace). Running fast in my Hattoris actually feels really, really good. I love getting up on my toes and just letting it fly.
Beast Mode….ON!