Downtown 5k Results

The race went well but I didn't finish as high as I was hoping and my time was slower than hoped. There were a lot of silver linings and I am fit, healthy and ready for a solid fall of training. I was about 4:27 for the first mile (equal to my high school personal best for 1600 meters) and I was under 9 minutes for 2 miles (8:58 I think, which is 50 seconds faster than my high school best for 3200 meters). The last mile wasn't so pretty and my lack of race specific training showed as I finished in 14:22. The temperature was upwards of 80 degrees and it was pretty sunny. Afterwards I could tell that I had given a solid effort as I struggled to make it through the finish shoot on two feet. Complete results can be found here: http://www.cvsdowntown5k.com/results/2006_5k.php There's a picture of the pack at the first mile at: http://eliterunning.com/photos/index.php?g2_itemId=30197 I'm in the back right in white over blue, already showing signs that the pace is getting to me. Check out the photo gallery for other pics of the race but eliterunning.com must not be much of a Blake Boldon fan because I didn't get any solo shots. Here's another one of me running next to my roommate for the weekend, Luke Watson: http://eliterunning.com/photos/index.php?g2_itemId=30205 A special thanks to Paul Harkins for letting me stay at his place on Sunday night and being such a hospitable host. Also, a thank you goes out to Charlie Breagy, Tony Vinci and the rest of the Providence Downtown 5k crew for making it such a great weekend.

USATF 5k Championships This Weekend

After 8 weeks without a day off, training is on track and I am getting back into a solid training routine. The last 4 weeks have been 85, 90, 89, and 82 miles. This week I am aiming for somewhere between 60 and 70 as I recover and prepare for a race on Sunday. This will be my first real effort since the 8k on the fourth of July and the first time since 2001 that I've run a high caliber race this early in the fall. I fly from Des Moines to Providence, Rhode Island early Saturday morning and I race in the CVS Downtown 5k on Sunday morning. The event serves as the USATF National Championship 5k. More details about the race can be found at: http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USA5kmChampionships/ or at http://www.cvsdowntown5k.com/ Results should be posted online before I get home on Monday.

PerformanceRunner.com August Feature Athlete

I just remembered that I was named the PerformanceRunner.com August Athlete of the Month and I didn't even mention it on my own web log. It's not a big deal, but the owner/webmaster of the site did a good job of putting together a brief profile. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link: http://www.performancerunner.com/profiles/male/blake_boldon.html