Ohio Teamster -Medical Mutual Flag Day 5k

The only reason I ran this race, is because it fell on my birthday, I mean how often does a mid week race falls on your birthday. It is only 10 days from the Lake Health Distance Classic Half Marathon which I wasn't in the best of shape to run and I knew this was also going to be a hilly course, I mean is anything in this part of town even flat.

I left work at 4pm even thou my target time to leave was 3pm but I knew I wasn't going to get to leave, since it was my birthday, I told my family what I want for a present was for them to come to the race to see me run , at least it wasn't 7am so there was no excuse.

We got to the race about 6:30pm and had to pack at the bottom of the hill, walked up the hill to pick my race packet then went back down again to drop it off in the car and to tell my family that a camera was in the car and I was expecting them to get out out of the car to watch me run and take pictures. On my way back to the car I saw espeed and Barb doing their warmup run, both ladies are inspirations to me just because they really work at improve their performance not that it just happens so I love reading about what they are up to.

I jogged  back up the hill for my warmup, did some dynamic flexibility and then contemplate what I want to do at the race, so went through the facts, am over weight, under train, it is only 10 days after a hard HM that I wasn't properly trained for and it is hot and humid, and oh this is not a flat 5k it is quite hilly did I say that already.

I have so far only done 5-5k races, it is not really my favorite race distance but it is a good way for me to test my leg turn over

8/09   25:35 PR pancake flat course
6/09   26:06  flat course
6/08   32:52  really doesn't count, was slightly injured and ran it on a Sunday after a 10k trail run on Saturday.
6/07   30:54 first birthday run, first pm race it was hot and humid, 13 days from my 1st 5k
6/07   29:56 flat course

I know I was in no shape to run or challenge my PR but I was wondering how bad out of shape I was, I did good on the HM, not great but good and recovery went great which means I really didn't push hard. So I settled for 26mins, I know it was a stretch but I was hoping I could come in under 27mins even thou the course is hilly.

They sang the national anthem and we were off, it started on time and it was a pretty good group no timing chip but not sure one was really needed.

I had my virtual training partner on my Garmin set to finish in 26 mins and was surprise that I stayed ahead through mile 1 (yeah me) but I knew the last 2 miles were quite hilly and I was going to loose time and I was having some difficulty breathing for some reason. After mile 2 on the way to the woods, you pass the finish clock/chute and I got a chance to see the first couple of ladies come in including espeed, I love seeing them run so it was nice that we saw them about 3x during the race.

The race went fine, I can't really say I died or had any problem but I knew I was running on tired legs and the hills were going to be a problem since my legs were still recovery from the Lake Health HM hills, I didn't walk any portion except when I had to get the water in my mouth at mile 2 being Styrofoam I couldn't drink and run.

I had some breathing problem when done but I felt fine and no aches or pain in the left glute or right foot, walked  back up the hill to get more water and some food. Waited around for the award ceremony but ended up leaving my family was starving, so left and headed off to Senorita Bonita in Solon.

Am glad I did the race, it was fun and well organize, los to eat and drink at the end, not sure what the official result is around 26:57, my Garmin recorded 26:51, I was really impress with my time based on how little I had trained and I guess I am not as badly out of shape as I thought. I am on a training schedule just need to be more focus with the weight training and yoga, also need to work on cleaning up my meals so I can loose the 10# needed.

Looking at my splits while I did a lousy job at pace control, I actually ran one of my fastest mile am sure the downhill at the start helped, any time I use the virtual partner bimlog.com does not get the complete data out of my Garmin, below are the splits for the 2 races

                     Flag Day 5k (26:51)                       5k PR (25:35)
mile 1                7:40                                              8:17
mile 2                8:59                                              8:19
mile 3                9:18                                              8:05
.1                      9:10                                              5:34

So I know there is hope in me getting faster if I dedicate the time and effort to it but I really do love to run, just need to work on getting back into race shape.

Now back to training, life is good.