July update

I ended up missing about 3 weeks of training after my pneumonia experience, and I still felt a bit weak for another week or two.

On 7/3, I ran the North Andover 3rd of July race.  It made me feel old in the sense that I ran in the first race back in 1979, so 31 years ago.  In those days, it was a 10K, and I ran a respectable 36:28 in 1979.  It was a whole different story in my 5K race in 2010, which was arguably my worst race ever: I ran 25:21, and felt dreadful doing so.  At about the 1.5 mile mark, I found myself walking, as I felt my legs just didn't want to continue.  While it was quite hot, I recognize that the main problem for me is a lack of fitness and not enough training runs.

I am signed up to run the Marathon Sports 5 miler in Weston on 7/22/10.  I'm a bit worried about that, as I have not yet run as far as 5 miles since returning to running (I think my longest run is about 4.7 miles).  I think my strategy will be to make my goal just to finish, rather than to try to race at all.  I'll run it at a very slow pace, and then push the last mile if I actually feel like I can.

My knee has not been feeling that great lately; it's a little stiff & sore.  I have not been doing any quad strengthening, so I think I need to get back to that and see if that helps.