Saturday, October 7

An entertaining 5K

One of the problems with races is that they're always in the morning. Yet, I'm not always awake. At least, not completely awake.

That was the case with the fun 5K I ran this morning, the Mizuno/Ridge Runner Sports 5K. I just never really woke up. Races that are in Phelps Grove Park give the better option of running there to warm up, thus not using my car and waking up en route.

Anyway, regardless of the early start, it was a fun race. It would have been entertaining to watch.

It got off to a fairly bad mental start for me as I just wasn't awake. The race had a 1-mile turn around and when I got there, I glanced down at my watch and quickly calculated that I must be running a 10-minute pace. This was a little bit sad as I thought I was going faster. But oh well, sometimes it's just not your day.

Then we get to the 1 mile marker, I glance down and I realize that I'd run the first mile in just under 8 minutes. Obviously the 1-mile turnaround was a little bit past the half-mile mark. Like I said, my brain wasn't completely awake.

Let's pick up our recap about a mile or so later. This race was more exciting for me than my last 5K because there were a lot more people near me. However, I started to realize I couldn't catch the people in front of me. Someone was breathing in my ear though. He was so close I could practically feel him. I was trying to run in a straight line but I could also sense that he was trying to get around me. I just thought if I could maintain my speed or pick it up a little, I'd hold him off. Then, sometime just after we passed that mile turnaround spot, a little kid, probably around 12 or so, darted past us. Meanwhile I could see from the corner of my eye that the man behind me wasn't slowing down. And sure enough, he passed me. This two man race meant very little in the grand scheme of things, but I wanted to win something, at least. I stayed close and I was going close to as fast as I could. Then when I saw the finish line come into view and I decided I could pass the guy who passed me and I started to sprint as fast as I could possibly go. Maybe not as fast as I could possibly go, but fast enough to get to the finish line.

The man I passed, a little older than me, said something to me about how it was a good run. I couldn't respond. I was breating too hard.

I'm not quite sure what my time was for the 5K at this point. Was it a PR? I don't know just yet. The race directors were testing a new timing system, their computers weren't synchronized and so the clocks were 2o-30 seconds off. Perhaps I could have run a little faster. I believe someday I will.

After the race I heard someone say, "I consider any race where you don't have a heart attack a good race."

He was joking.

Anyhow, I've been realizing that I'm happiest when I'm competing. And I want to push myself harder so I can compete better. Tody was a good race but I'm looking forward to running faster.

3 Comments:

Blogger bl said...

My time was 25:53- 8 seconds slower than my 5K PR.

October 07, 2006 5:28 pm  
Blogger Cherie Kail said...

Good job Brian! I knew you'd do well....looking forward to tomorrow's big forest run :) Here's a link to a course mapped out that we could think about after the 10k next weekend.....it would be fun to get to the C-street market for lunch!!!





Route Search Results

Showing 1-1 of 1 matches

Distance Name Location Rating
14.22 mi.
22.89 km City After 10k Springfield -
Springfield, MO, US


from usatf.com

October 07, 2006 7:39 pm  
Blogger bl said...

I'm having trouble accessing your link. Can you print out the map?

October 07, 2006 10:54 pm  

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