The Sky Is Crying

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the horrific Boston Marathon bombing,there isn't a day that goes by when I don't pray for the victims,their families,friends and loved ones whos lives were forever altered by the calious and gutless actions of those two bastards who set off those bombs at the finishline on Boylston St.
On a day that so many lives were altered in the blink of an eye I could hardly "cry foul" when I heard the weather forecast called for rain,victims of Boston are dealing w/ far worse issues for the rest of their lives so "ever the Boy Scout" i packed my running bag accordingly on Monday nite b4 heading out to Roxborough for my repeats{I learnt a valuable lesson last week not hitting Roxborough on a Tuesday....fool me once shame on you,fool me twice shame on me!},running cap and waterproof jacket......the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared" afterall!!!

As the #9 bus made it's way along route 76 to Manayunk on route to Roxborough the heavens opened w/ a vengence,too late I was almost there and frankly rain or no rain I was hell bent on getting this repeat in period,I'd lost two repeats last week to begin w/ but I also wanted to honour those who'd been wounded a year ago in Boston even though I didn't personally know any of the victims I felt I wanted to do this for them,it felt like the very least I could do for them.
Took full advantage of the portajohn by the trackside to get changed into my running gear and hoped I'd now have dry clothes to put back on post repeats,I was going to need them as the rain continued to fall unabated....but if you know my running history you know running in the rain is kind of my thing!!!
Having lost out on last weeks repeats altogether I opted to go w/ 4x1 mile/5x1,000m this week rather than skip over them in favour of the 6x600m/8x300x200x300 rotation the only question now was 4x1mile or 5x1,000m?
Since my previous 5x1,000m repeats on March 29th were conducted in the rain the temptation was to see if today would be any faster in identical conditions....however I'd been chomping at the bit for a week to have a crack at lowering my previous set of mile repeats from March 25th which if you recall were conducted in the snow here,they were:
5.48.1-5.51.2-5.52.8-5.46.7.
Mile warm up complete it was have at it time.

#1 mile
1.19-1.27-1.27-1.24=5.37.5
My quickest mile repeat this year which isn't as quick as I'd like but it's getting there,albeit a mile at a time it seems!

#2 mile
1.22-1.27-1.27-1.23=5.39.4
Consistant if nothing else but like 3 weeks ago laps 2 and 3 need some work going forward

#3 mile
1.21-1.27-1.29-1.25=5.42.8
Splat! there went my 4xsub 5.40 miles,again a solid opening lap,two slightly below par middle laps b4 a reasonable closing 400m,hopefully sooner rather later I can put together 4 soild laps at 1.25 b4 getting down to 1.20

#4 mile
1.21-1.30-1.30-1.21=5.42.1
The dreaded 1.30 laps I'd kept at bay snuck in as the wind,rain and fatigue took their toll.

During my warm up I thought that if I could hold onto 1.25 pace I'd clock 5.40 miles, a reasonable target to shoot for at this stage of the game all things  considered,that said today was a major leap forward from three weeks ago knocking 36 seconds off of my four 1 mile repeats that day which I take as a major plus ut underlines how much stronger and faster I'm getting as each week goes by and I relish my next crack at 4x1 mile hopefully on April 29th.