Big Recycling Box in the Sky

I had to retire another pair of shoes a few weeks ago. I wanted to have a Viking funeral or a bonfire or something but then the fire department would show up followed by the police, so I chose to not do those things.

So I just took my old Nike Pegasus 30 to the recycling box at my running shop, letting them end at the place where it began. Before I started working at Fleet Feet I would show up at the weekly Monday Night Group Run event and one day the Nike rep had Pegs for us to try and a pair to give away via drawing. I so rarely win things like this so I didn't get my hopes up but I heard my name called and a few days later I went home with these dudes:

Nike Pegasus 30, men's 9 1/2 with elastic laces

These were even a favorite at my old running store in Tuscaloosa. Our Chief Running Officer always loved them because they were so soft and comfortable. Store manager Voldemort liked them because they were the shoe Nick Saban wore on the sidelines at Alabama football games, meaning Tide football fans gobbled them up when we got them in. Ol' Voldemort couldn't even pronounce Pegasus but that didn't matter as long as the cash register kept up. It's still a running joke for the First Lady and me-- we call them what he did-- Nike 'Paygus.'

My first run for them was a nine-miler on a Saturday in September, 2013. Probably a little long for their debut, but I wrote AWESOME in my running log that day, after I'd scrawled OMG! in the space for Monday's demo run. So I guess I was a fan right from the get go. They'd been making this shoe for a long time and it seemed as though they were on to something.

The Pegasus took me through the streets of Atlanta in March, 2014 for the Publix Marathon. That was the time my wife actually had to help me down off the curb so I could cross the street on our way back to the hotel.

Last ride for these old friends was a four-miler a few weeks ago on a sticky Georgia morning. 533 miles for these old foot soldiers.

Twilight 2017

The last Saturday in April got me up early to run the Twilight 5K. If I run a race the previous year, then I'm more likely to pay a visit the following year as a way to see how I've been doing. I PR'd this race last year at 21:40 and I was hopeful of having a good run.

Race conditions were sunny with temps near 70 degrees Fahrenheit-- warm and sticky for the 8:30 AM start. I wore my red Athens Road Runners short-sleeved top and Brooks two-in-one shorts, along with my Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 stability shoes. I'm still a really big fan of these shoes. They're very soft and comfortable, and I ran well in them during the Give Thanks 8K last Thanksgiving.

There was a course change for 2017 and it began with a downhill start. I did try to get toward the front for the start so as to avoid other traffic, and flew out of the gate. 3:11 for my first half-mile split. I should have been alarmed, but I felt pretty good at the start. What I didn't remember is my fastest splits were very close to 3:30, and that was when I'd go to the track for 800 repeats.

But I kept on going. Maybe I felt like my training was going to get me there. I just remember not feeling as cautious as I should have.

I know a running friend locally who is much faster than I am. Seeing him out ahead of me a little bit, I decided to keep him within sight and let him be a rabbit. Yeah, that didn't last long. My next two splits were closer to the norm at 3:24 and 3:22. My friend had scooted away and I hadn't even made it to the hills on the back side yet. I even pulled over for about 10 seconds to catch my breath because I just couldn't go anymore at that point. I always try to keep going no matter how bad it must look, but my heart rate was way up there, I'd gone out too fast and now it was time to pay for my mistake.

Making it back onto the course and around the last two corners, I saw my boss from Fleet Feet, who gave me some good encouragement in the home stretch when I thought I didn't have anything left. My watch had 21:43 when I crossed the finish line, which differed from the actual finish time of 21:55. Took me the rest of the day to figure out why. I'd stopped my Garmin when I stopped running, which is a bad habit I've formed even out on my training runs.

The amazing part was still to come-- I placed second in my age group despite running about 15 seconds slower than in 2016, when I finished off the podium. Here is the proof:

It still qualifies as a Shiny Metal Object. 

Strange thing is that I didn't want the free beer and breakfast after the race. My tune changed after swallowing two bottles of water. I drank a yummy Terrapin Sound Czech (a light pilsner) but still skipped the free food. Just wasn't hungry.

No real changes to the training-- 25 miles this week after an eight-miler on a cool Saturday morning.