Race Day
I opened my eyes and looked at the clock, 5:45 AM. I smile, I didn’t sleep in. I turn on the news to see the latest weather report, frost warning through 8 AM. Frost, 8 AM? That’s when the race starts! It’s gonna be cold! I think they said 47 degrees by 8 o’clock. It felt like 20! I began my normal morning ritual of getting coffee for Melissa & me, milk for the kids and taking a shower. We all had to be out the door by 7:15. Not as easy as it sounds with a 3 & 4 year old. We made it in time to stop off at the Stauch’s to borrow their jogging stroller (thanks Stauch’s). Off to the Zoo! As we are driving again I'm thinking, what have I done? We made it there with about 25 minutes to spare. We got Melissa another coffee and headed to the starting line. I put on my headphones, took off my sweatshirt and my warm up pants. Standing in shorts and a long sleeve shirt under my first race tee shirt, I was cool! After hearing some last minute instructions the horn sounded and we were off. All 749 runners (Females: 434 / Males: 315), chaos. Some people were blazing by like I was standing still! I kept a comfortable pace and occasionally passed some people. I really focused on a steady pace and was pretty happy at the first mile marker to see I was at 9:14 pace (according to my watch). A good pace for me on this cold Sunday morning, I kept my focus and was feeling pretty good. The pains of the first mile were behind me, the pains of the next two in front. The second mile clicked by and my pace slowed a bit to 9:32. I was feeling pretty good, even though many people began to kick it into gear and pass me. I was beginning to feel like a looser when I was passed by a young girl maybe 9 years old! A few minutes into mile 3 I picked up my pace again. Somewhere along Woodward, in the second half of mile 3 the Rocky theme song comes on the headphones. Perfect, I thought, it seemed to help me. Mile marker 3, 9:17 pace. I can hear the crowd cheering now, I feel really good. I start sprinting & passing people left and right. Finishing with a clock time of 28:38 and a chip time of 28:23. Both well below my last 5K of 30:45. I’m happy! Overall I finished 288 th, and 28th in my class (males 35 – 39). When did I get so old?One thing I really need to work on is grabbing water and drinking it as I’m running. Maybe at the next race…
After the race we heading into the Zoo for the walk, which Melissa had entered. I ended up doing the walk with her and the kids, a perfect cool down. After the walk we all headed for the post party tent and had hots dogs, chips and in my case, more chips!
posted by the_ubster @ 4:21 AM
3 Comments:
Congratulations!
Did you end up passing that smart-ass 9 year old?
Wow! Sounds like you had a great time. You are an inspiration. I am going to try to do a 5k in December. We will see!
Thanks Mark - No, I never did catch her. Melissa said she finished ahead of me. I could look up times based on age but I don't really want to know.
Jamey - It was a fun. Thanks. You should register for that 5K now. If all of us start running we can blame it on Josh. I'm thinking of registering for the Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving.
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