Betty Zane 2019

So me and this guy - one won the race, and one got second in his age group.  Probably no reason to go into specifics, but I am proud of this kid for getting his first ever 5k win.  Pretty cool that it is at home and Dad got to be in the race too.  So even though I didn't win (spoiler alert, wait did I do that right? I mean seriously you should be able to tell from the pic) I did set a PR with an official 28:58 clocking.  The temperature was about 82° and sunny, it felt warmer than the 82 for sure.  I modified my race strategy to seeking shade when possible and stretching out the walking periods in the shade.  I'm glad I got a PR by about 30 seconds, but I was hoping for 25 minutes when I started training and trying to get to around 27 as a minimum (wait a tick if I change the minutes to seconds . . .that makes it a 24 minutes and 238 second run, so sub 25 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).  I have done more focused training this year than the past 2 years, but feel this result is a little disappointing.  I'm on the right path though.

Disclaimer: on Sunday I did wreck the riding lawn mower at Mom's house over the bank.  It ended up flipping up on one side, not sure how it didn't keep rolling over the hill, but when it tipped over I landed in some pretty tall weeds and apparently some poison ivy.  I have a pretty decent bruise on my leg and the poison was bad enough that I had to get a shot.  So no excuses, but that is not the best way to finish your training before a race.  I told Sampson this and he said "noted".  Love that kid. I may make a blog post on this event...stay tuned.

Anyway he was actually a little disappointed too.  You see the last 1/2 mile or so of the race is pretty much a straight shot to the finish and Sampson had been leading pretty much the whole race.  Well his buddy from last year, who had the bad race at the end of the XC season, came up to him and started chatting it up during the race.  Well Sampson was about out of breath and so I don't think he responded, but then his buddy went out ahead a little and even though nothing was said, Sampson said that he thought his buddy checked up a little bit and maybe... just maybe let him win.  I didn't see the end of the race, like not the first finishers, I mean I saw the end when I got there about 10 minutes later but... I told him that he should remember last year and how is buddy had his worst race of his senior season at districts and he thought he was done until the team pulled out a qualifier for regional with Sampson running a PR and placing number 8 overall and first for the team.  I told him, maybe he didn't let him win as much as he wanted to square up.  Or maybe he just cramped up or something and he got the dub out right.  Sometimes you can't over think things, I mean be glad you won the race kid.

Anyway back to my race.  So I have been training on the course pretty religiously this summer. I would say I have run the full race at least twice, but run the first mile or so about 20 times.  Last year there was a water table right after the first mile, so I kind of planned on hitting the first mile pretty hard, taking a little break at the water station, to wet the old whistle and then run hard to the rec center.  I would try and catch my breath a little before the hill and run up the hill.  Well there was no water station after the first mile.  This through my race into complete chaos.  Well maybe not complete chaos, but definitely had me thinking more, like were there going to be any water stations, and was I screwed, would I die of the dehydration like Bobby Boucher's Daddy.  Anyway I have been training without drinking water on a run, but it was hot and I was trying harder than normal and my mouth was really dry at this point.  Well the first station ends up being at the top of the rec center hill.  Which is actually a good location because you can take a quick break after the big hill, recover and take off on a pretty straight flat stretch, with a nice little down hill for about a mile.  Well once I broke the seal of stopping then it becomes to easy to stop and I probably stopped about 4 more times.  I ran a practice race on Saturday and finished in 29:58 and I only stopped 3 times, and the last little downhill from total sports I clocked a 6 minute mile for about a tenth of a mile.  This time though I wanted to meet that time goal so every time I ran I tried to run hard and with good form, but the endurance just wasn't there.  I think I have some good technique now, but no aerobic.  Anywho, I am happy with the finish, but I have some unfinished business.  Which is good in a way, because I am still motivated.  I do like running, but I need to figure some more stuff out, and do more speed work. I only trained at a max of 12 miles per week, which is above what I have done in the past, but the results are only sub 29.  I mean a tractor did roll on me 3 days prior so there was that.  But I think I need to run around 20 miles or so a week in order to break that 27 barrier, and if I can get the cardio, I may be able to get sub 25.  I'm not sure that I can or will ever be able to keep a pace of sub 20 starting this late in life running, but that may be wayyyyy out there as a goal.  More likely I will run a half marathon before I break 20, but it may be fun to see what can happen first.  Oh some more motivation, the guy who got first in my age group...beat me by 2 seconds.  But honestly I tried to run as fast as I could that last little bit, and I just couldn't get there.

Anyway it was great to run in a race with my son, who I never actually saw after about the first 1/4 mile until the finish line.  But I have some goals and look forward to meeting them.  I was think about running the Debbie Green race, but Sophie said that was a bad idea to run two 5k's in the same week.  Well it is also a bad idea to roll a lawn mower on you and get poison ivy, so why the heck not run two.  Well she never signed me up, so there's that, but maybe next year...