Finished the 5K!
Ok, I’m going to be lazy and just reprint here what I posted on the V-board.
Yesterday I ran in my first 5K as part of my half marathon training. Boy, what an eye opener!
First, I couldn’t figure out how fast to go. All the people around me just messed up all the points of reference I had been (subconsciously) using to gauge my speed. And when someone is running near me, I start following their pace instead of mine and I end up running way too fast or way too slow. I was checking my time at each mile and I was ok, but at some points it felt too fast and later it felt way too slow. I need to listen to my body more and concentrate on how it feels. The scenery and people distract me.
We were running on a paved walking path around a park for most of the run. 1.5K out and then double back. With the speedy folks coming back, it was real hard to move around people if they were going too slowly. It was like being at a car race and as soon as there was an open section everyone jumped out in that lane to pass people. The really cool thing was seeing the first runners coming back before I had hit the turn-around, they were FLYING!
I remembered someone (I think it was Hal) talking about starting at the far outside lane to let the rush move past him and to get around other people easier and that’s what I did at the start. Since I would be going slower, it kinda made sense for me to start in the back anyway.
The first 2 kilometers were actually a little faster than I wanted to run but the last one was alot slower. At the end I felt like I could have kept running for a lot longer which made me think I should have run much harder. I kept feeling like I needed to pace myself or I’d run out of steam, but before I knew it, the race was over. The finish line came up so quickly at the end. I ended up with 29:04 which was a little faster than I had expected. Not exactly stellar but now I have lots of room for great improvement. Oh, to be 18 again when I ran 7 minute miles! (ok, no more snickering from the wing-footed runners out there).
I never would have guessed how odd it would be to run without music. I normally have a radio playing. All I could hear wass the clomp clomp of feet, heavy breathing, and an occasional sniffle. Speaking of which, I needed tissues like you wouldn’t believe (hope that’s not too gross). It was about 25F outside which isn’t so bad when the sun is shining.
The run was put on by the local track club and they did a great job organizing. They had bagels, fruit, gatoraid, hot chocolate, and water. A local elementary school made valentines for the runners, and we got T-shirts. Nice club, good run.
That spot on my shin/calf that had been hurting was a little sore initially, but felt pretty good for most of the run. I’ve been icing it, taking ibuprofin, stretching and staying off it as much as possible. I did the cold tub soak this AM. Good advice from you folks on wearing the booties. I knew that old scuba gear would come in handy again. I also bought shoe inserts for my work shoes help with my pronation problem. Its amazing the difference it made in how my leg felt.
More training. A 10 K (if I can find one). Then the half. Then a long rest. Then Chicago…
