The 10 mile left and we started piling into the chute for the 5k which was very narrow. At the start there was walking for quite a ways. It probably took at least 0.1 to 0.2 miles before it was clear enough to run at my normal pace. I started passing a lot of people and felt good about not really getting passed much. The night before it snowed a few inches and that had already been churned into a sand like chop along the path by the 10 miler and so it was tough to run and have good footing so my legs were getting tired. At this point I was actually doing about 8:40 min/mile due to some adrenaline except for the first part of walking/slow running. Then I hit the first hill and it sucked. At the top of the hill I saw the 1 mile marker and got some energy but coming down was a log jam since it was very slippery. Up to this point I have been zig zagging through the crowd of people which was getting tough on my legs as each one was like a little mini sprint to get ahead of them. At the end of the hill it started to open up and I was mainly around people going my pace.
The mile 2 marker seemed to be taking forever to come up and my legs were getting very sore. Then I started passing people who had run up ahead of me and now had to walk because they were too tired. I wasn't going to let that happen to me so I slowed down some. My friend was running right around me up to this point but was up ahead of me now and actually gave me something to keep trying to catch up to. This was a very easy run for him and so he was just keeping pace with me. We passed mile 2 and looking across the lake we were running around I could see the finish line and got some adrenaline pumping.
Mile 3 was going pretty fast and I could see myself getting closer to the finish line. Little did I know there was another killer hill coming up and a little detour so mile 3 was going to be longer than I thought. I felt like I wasn't going to make it up the hill but a good song came on and I kept going all the while my friend was just holding on trying to keep me going. I got up the hill and went down the small decline and saw we were on the straight away of about 0.1 miles left and with what I had left I decided to sprint through the finish line. Getting close to the finish line, I saw someone in an Aaron Rodgers jersey running and as I've said before, I HATE the packers especially him so I ran even a little faster just to beat that person to the finish line and I did. It felt great to finish and I was not even thinking about the cold.
When I got home I weighed myself, which I probably do too much but:
Today is the beginning of my half marathon training and involves me doing some strength but no running. It is the Hal Higdon program for novice half marathons. I'm looking forward to the training and getting up into the longer distances. The weather is getting nice out and I'll be doing most of my running outdoors.
Very cool, man. Well done. The Hal Higdon training programs are pretty cool, in my opinion. I used it for the 10K and will probably look into the half-mary training as well.
ReplyDeleteNice job.
Awesome 5K and congrats on the weight loss! You're doin it! I just ran a 5K this weekend too, first race in 18 yrs, and I got an excellent time too. I can't imagine a half-marathon yet but I see a LOT of people who do them and survive, so I guess they can't be that bad. The longest I've run at once is about 7 miles though. I'll be running over 15 in the Ragnar in April but that's split into 3 legs, so I won't be running more than 6 I think in one leg.
ReplyDeleteWhat type of pace are you running? I love reading about everybody's races.