You'd think that it would be easy to find a standard 400-meter track that's open to the public in a city like Chicago. You'd be wrong. I found a few, but they're all either far away or have no parking. I decided on one that's far away (Foster and Damen). It was a decent track, though I was surprised to find a cinder surface. Maybe I should invest in some Nike Waffle Trainers circa 1974. I had the track to myself and it's a beautiful day. If you're wondering why I wasn't at work, I have no clinic or surgery today, so it's an "administrative" day. Since I'm all caught up on my "administrative" work, it's actually a running/studying day.

I ran a 1 mile warm-up, 8 x 400-meter repeats with 200 meters jog/walk in between, then a half mile jog to cool down. Here are the splits.

Mile 1: 8:44
Lap #1: 1:44 (6:57 pace)
Lap #2: 1:37 (6:29 pace)
Lap #3: 1:39 (6:38 pace)
Lap #4: 1:38 (6:32 pace)
Lap #5: 1:37 (6:28 pace)
Lap #6: 1:38 (6:32 pace)
Lap #7: 1:37 (6:28 pace)
Lap #8: 1:33 (6:14 pace)
1/2 Mile: 4:30 (9:00 pace)

Overall, I'm happy with the workout. My goal was 6:30 pace for the quarters and I was right there other than the first and last laps. I worked pretty hard, but probably had a couple more in me.

Today: 4.56 miles (run/walk)
This week: 13.56 miles