Race Weekend 9 July: out of Denial

Today I did the Pearce Community Center 5K race. The race was held in a small town 18 miles outside of Peoria. The course was a very flat, very fast, minimal turn course though shaded neighborhood streets; since it started at 7 am the day was still cool.

My goal is to get under 23 minutes for the 5K; my master's pr is 20:4X. But I did that a few years ago (2001) when I was running; in the last 2-3 years I've mostly racewalked during training. Lately, I've been doing 2-3 runs each week, with one 9-10 miler and a couple of 4-6 milers. The rest of my training has been racewalking or distance walking.

I used some yoga at the start: I told myself to "accept what is there and go with the flow". The result was a 7:22 first mile followed by a 7:31 second mile. Between the 1 and 2 mile mark I made up some ground. But in the last mile I caught several packs of people, and only lost one place where I got outkicked. I just kept moving up and trying to catch the next person.

I had something left, but very little speed for a kick. The last 1.1 miles was covered in 8:14 (just under a 7:30 pace) and was my fastest 5K finish in a good long while. Nevertheless, I was a bit bummed to not break 23; I finished in 23:08 (my watch; 23:12 officially; I start my watch when *I* cross the start line).

Out of denial: I've ran my last six running 5K's in the 23 minute range (not counting one in which I had to stop for an injury), starting with Family House back in May, 2004.

Each time I said "it will be different, next time". Each time I said : "well, I didn't really give it my all." Well, the photo that I posted of my finishing a 5K a few weeks ago (I am the bearded one); note that it doesn't appear as if I am slacking. Also note that if you look hard enough and use your imagination, you can almost make out bicep muscles. I also posted a photo of Tracy from a 5 miler we did on the 4'th of July. She is the short haired female with the cat shirt behind two females in the foreground.