09 January 2011

Bob & Ron's 5k

This is my first race in...... well, a really long time. Last time I ran this race was 2008.  I did a lot of racing in 2008, I hope to duplicate it this year.

Anyway, so what happened.  Well, it was cold.  58F cold....Even after running the race I was still cold. That's pretty cold.  So, started off pretty good. I seeded myself at the back of the pack and just took off slow.  I worked on keeping my own pace and not falling victim to the pack mentality.  I know myself and I know that starting running is hard.  After about 7 minutes of running my legs were hurting, so I walked for a minute.  I did this run/walk thing for about 1 mile. After that I was pretty good and ran mostly.  I hit the 2 mile mark at 28 minutes and was feeling really good.  I took my last walking break and prepared to take it in to the finish line.  I started running and bam! knee pain.  Yikes!  I haven't had anything like that in a long time.  I just kept plugging along and the knee would hurt every few steps but nothing I couldn't handle.  I tried to sprint to the finish but I just didn't have it in me.  I finished in 42:20 ish.  Not bad.  Not great, but not near as bad as I thought it might be.

Things learned:
  1. I love the atmosphere and camaraderie of races
  2. I need to work on my endurance
  3. I'm a wuss when it comes to cold.  
The next race is in 2 weeks and it is an 8k (~5 miles).  My goal for that one is to be able to run the whole thing. My training plan is to run 3.1 on Tuesday, 4 miles on Thursday and Sunday, 5 miles on the following Tuesday and Thursday.  It's a big jump in mileage but I think I can handle.  I really want to do this....

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