Before I jump into the race I want to warn all three or four of my loyal readers that this is not a picture post, like I previously promised. Turns out I don't take pictures at races. That's my wife's category. I guess you're stuck having to read...
Today was a good day. It started with sleeping in until 730. That's a good 2-3 hours more than normal. PLUS, none of the girls woke up in the middle of the night! Once I got up, I crept around our townhouse. This was so I would not wake up children and wife. I left my place, feeling very spy-like, and headed over to Bryce "Hannity" York's place. While I waited for him to get dressed, his daughter informed me that I smell sweaty. I hadn't even run yet but I wore it like a badge of honor. We made our way to the race venue and had a good hour to spare. Topics of conversation covered everything from Bryce accusing Chrissie Wellington of being a doper to both of our histories running. As documented before, I often have made excuses in my training. I reached a certain level of fitness and I was happy with that. Ignorance is bliss. I think it's a combination of Bryce's constant prodding and this book I'm reading:
.JPG) |
| If you're a runner or triathlete (or you can read) you need to read this book! |
I've done this over the last couple weeks in spurts. Last week I didn't leave the pool when my training partner did. I had a goal of laps and I was going to reach it. On Thursday, B-ryce was sick so I made my way to the pool all by my lonesome. I was able to max my personal best in distance with around 800 meters completed. Not bad considering where I started 2013 with 0 meters as my best. Last night I wasn't feeling like doing my trainer workout for the day. I came home from a half day of work and took a little nap. When I woke up I was all but certain it wouldn't happen. That wouldn't last for long. Once we put the girls in bed I was on the trainer pedaling it out. Focus. Focus. Focus.
Back to today.
I didn't have a crazy time goal for this race, especially with last night's trainer session. The last few 5ks I've done have all ended with a 9 min mile average. 9 minutes on the dot. Today I would be under 9 minutes per mile. The race horn went off and off we all went. I was feeling good. I kept reminding myself that I had this in the bag. Mile one I was at 8 minutes per mile. Mile two was a little over 8. I started feeling a bit sluggish at that point. I started to get into my normal mindset of being defeated but I didn't stop. I may not be close to winning one of these races (the winner came in before I hit the 2 mile marker) but I'm determined to do my best. Towards the end I picked it up a little bit. At the 3 mile marker we made a turn to see the final tenth of a mile. The timer still was in the 25 minute range. I booked it. Ended up with a 26:11. Take that 9 minutes! Bryce finished a little bit before me, but I was able to finish before he finished his cool-down. He also won a random door prize:
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| Race booty.. Yarrrr |
After the race I headed to my car to get my bottle of tap water. Two Week Challenge style!
On a quick side-note: Active:Water asked me to write a blog post about the challenge. You can check it out here: http://activewater.org/blog/i-almost-caved-a-lesson-from-the-twoweekchallenge/
On my way back indoors there was a table with race flyers laid across it. I did my normal perusing and saw all the same Subway Challenge Series races and then something stuck out. An indoor triathlon at the YMCA. 15 minutes swim, 15 minutes bike, 20 minutes run. I've been very impatient for my first tri so I'm signing up. It's only 14 bucks and it'll be a good workout. Oh, it's a week from today too! Take THAT impatience!
All in all I give the race a solid B+. Well organized, good crowd, good course, weather was good too (30s with a light mist). Only thing stopping it from reaching that A+ was me forgetting my wallet and not being able to purchase a green 26.2 magnet. Instead of a point there was a shamrock. I'm a loser...
Tomorrow is St. Patrick's day! I'm excited. The misses and I will celebrate our sober st. Patrick's day going up to the Cleve for a hockey game. First game in almost 10 years.
Thanks for reading!
Run any races this weekend? How'd you do?
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