Thursday, July 4, 2013

Today's 5k

What's a better way to spend your independence than by running a 5k! This morning my fiancĂ© and I ran the Run Wild 5k in uptown park in Houston. Registered on site and were there nice and early. Sat around and took in plenty of water (it is destined to be a hot one!) and then did some dynamic stretches.  Did my2 mile warm up with 4 pick ups and a couple high knees to get my mind ready for my first true 5k since March. As I was warming up, me and a guy and a girl seemed to be in a race for who was going to run faster. I went VERY slow for my warm up. Wanted to be cautious as I have not been hitting my previous 5k PR paces in training. In my defense, I did an Ironman 1.5 months ago and then took two weeks off. And I haven't been training as seriously as I should be. But I need today's reality check to see if I still had some speed in my legs

Lined up fairly appropriately considering I was 80th or so overall. Grabbed some water and Gatorade that was at the front, and boom, go time!  I don't know why but I like to start off fast, too fast sometimes.  So today I made sure to look at my watch the first 400m to settle into my pace. And then I just ran the best I could from there, keeping that same perceived effort, just glancing at my watch a couple times really to check distance. Grabbed two cups of water,at mile 1 and another at mile 2, would have been nice if those were cooler.... Passed a good handful of people that started too fast and was only passed a few times.  I kept my eye out for girls and didn't see any pass me after a couple miles in. The last mile felt long and I ran the last quarter mile in 6 minute mile pace. I unfortunately a gained positioned split.  As I got hotter out, I got slower.  Oh well. Good enough for a comfortable 3rd in my age group. And just 30 seconds off my PR. Now the real training is to begin. And that means faster times.

And the running cool down consisted partially of running some kids through the mile kids fun run.  If the look of determination on a 5 year olds face doesn't make you remember the joy of running, I don't know what does.  Happy 4th. And time to hydrate ;)