Pants? At a time like this?

I begrudgingly quote The Hangover because I have not yet made my peace with that movie. When I saw it with Dave and Butch in July, I liked it, but maybe the jocular attitude we carried into it helped lubricate my sense of humor. I saw it again in September with the Elf, Kay and Mike Knight, and I was much more critical. When I watched it on Christmas with my dad, brothers and sister, I liked it a lot more.

Anyway, I use that quotation because upon arriving at B-CC for the Wednesday GRC workout, slightly slipping on ice all over the place, I saw Mike Smith running about in shorts. What a silly idea, I said to myself, it's too darn cold for shorts. I had my first solid stretch in a long time while we waited for Dirk, and then set off on a warmup that included Jake Marren just popping up out of nowhere.

Most of the guys had far more ambitious plans for their 3x mile workout- they started around 5:00. I wanted simply to take a few steps in from my aborted 5:20s workout a few weeks before, and shot for 5:15s. Initially, I wanted to start at 5:20 and drop 5 seconds each interval, but after I got wrapped up in the pack's pacing on the first one and came through the half in 2:35, I realized I should just try to be consistent- even though in a racr, even splits might as well be positive splits. I hit 5:15 for the first two, with 800s that were too fast. On the third mile, I waited a few seconds after the pack (which ended up running 4:40) went out so I didn't get swept away, and managed 79s for the first 1200 until I cut lose in the last 400 and finished in 5:13.

The 200s were not as bad as I expected, since it's just a half lap. I surprised myself with two 31s to start, then came back to usual late-workout form with a 37 for the third. I hadn't recovered during the 200+ jog, and I considered bowing out early, but then I rationalized that I didn't travel out to Bethesda to give up, so I stuck in the last one for another 31 that I swore felt like 36. I'm still heavy, but at least I exhibited the primal urge to sprint tonight. A mile cooldown later, I had nine miles for the day.

LOST SLACKS UPDATE
While in Pittsburgh, I once again scoured my bedroom and attic in search of the slacks, and was unsuccessful. I even asked my mom to check to see if she had integrated them into her closet, to no avail. It's about time I gave up the search.