2006 Knotty Pine 5k

After feeling kinda wimpy during my Wednesday night run, I didn't do anything Thursday or Friday. I got up at 6am on Saturday and decided to go for a jog before eating and getting ready for the race. I jogged up and down the street at Papa Tommy's house a couple of times to try and get good and awake and get the blood going in the legs.

Once back inside I ate most of a ClifBar and drank some water and Gatorade. I got Sarah up and Papa and I fed her breakfast and got her ready to go. We made it to packet pickup by about 7:25 or so.

I picked up my packet and said hey to Papa Gene and Grandma Greta who had gotten up early to come watch me race. Then I loaded up into the shuttle van for the ride to the starting line.

Once at the start line I hit the head one last time then went for a warm-up run on the walking path around the lakes at Harmon Park. My legs were still not feeling very spunky and I had a sneaking suspicion that things would not go well.

The race started with a blast, literally. The local chief of police started with race with a blast from his shotgun from the back of the crowd. Needless to say, all hopes of gradually getting the heart rate up during the first mile were now "shot" and I was off like a bolt of lightning.

Of course I started out too fast again. I think I was running under a 7:00 pace for the first half mile. Of course for about half a mile, 7:00 pace don't feel too bad, but after that it does. I started fading but clipped off the first mile in 7:12. I needed to run an average pace of 7:14 overall but I knew at 1 mile it wasn't gonna happen.

I knew I wasn't gonna get the time I had hoped for so I picked out this one guy running in warm-up pants and decided I was gonna beat him no matter what. So we battled it out head to head over the second mile until we reached the water table at the 2 mile mark with a split time of 7:59.

I was getting very winded so I walked while sipping half a cup and dumping another cup over my head. I caught my breath a bit and set back to running. Now it was time to catch back up.

Mr. warm-up pants had pulled ahead during my walk but I quickly caught and past him. I was now on the "home stretch" which consisted of a lot of hills. I ran the last 1/2 mile with my eyes closed most of the way just trying to find my "happy place". I held off Mr. warm-up pants for a finish time of 24:27. I think he came in at just over 25:00.

In the end I think I was just not recovered enough for this race. My legs were weak feeling and the hills didn't help. Though the race started with a nice downhill (which only served to encourage my bad habit) after the first 0.75 miles the course climbed 75 feet.

So 22:30 is still out there waiting for me. Someday soon I'll get there. Next time I intend to be better rested and more focused on going out slow.

Oh, there was some good news. I finished first in my age group!! Woo hoo!! Ok, ok, I was the only one in my age group, but hey I showed up and everyone else slept in. I also got meet my brother Jay's future mother-in-law. She took second place overall in the women's division. Michelle LeFleur showed up so of course she took first place and set a new course record for the women. Alan Black won overall with a time of 15:10, beating the previous course record he set in 2003 by 0.9 seconds.

So overall it was a fun time. I'll just have to set a new PR another day.

Total Dist.: 3.11 miles
Total Time: 24:27
Splits:
1 7:12
2 7:59
3 8:26 (includes walking)
Avg. Pace: 7:51


MotionBased Activity