Fast Boat to China

Chinese Year of the Ox 5k

Horrible night of sleep. Didn’t actually pass out until after 11 and then was woken up by crazy cats and dogs (it was a fullmoon) at about 4:15am. Had a onion bagel and some coffee with Heidi before she left for work, then I hopped on the Cannondale and made my way up to the race start.

Asphalt and stem.

Curry and Scottsdale.

A mini-riparian refuge fed by canals.

Root Down.

After locking my backpack and bike to a tree root I took off for about a 20 minute warmup jog. This race was pretty small but the course was hilly so there was a bit of a challenge to it. Anyways we took off and started my watch as I crossed the start line (the race wasn’t chip-timed). The first few hundred yards were a little slow-going as I weaved throughout the joggers but I finally broke free and got into a steady pace. It was a fairly uneventful 5k. It went by quick and I crossed the line in pain. It was awesome.

My goal was set at a conservative 24:30 and I pretty much crushed that by clocking a 22:42. That’s a PR, friends. 7:19 per mile. I’m happy with that.  Not only did I PR but for the first time ever I placed in my age group! Yeah…kinda funny, I stuck around for the raffle and place medals because I was half interested to see if I did in fact squeeze by.

Maple sportin' my bling.

Alright. Well that’s it for me. Time for a shower and to really start the day.

Rest is Temporary

Afer a couple of days off due to some exhaustion in the mind and legs I took off for a little road run this afternoon.  Temps in Arizona are fantastic right now, mid-70′s. There was a little pain in my left heel for the first eight minutes or so but once that subsided I gained some ground.

Tempe Town Lake Path

It was a quick run at just under 30 minutes, but I maintained a sub-8 minute mile. This upcoming Saturday will be my first 5k of the year. I have recently been working on a spreadsheet of all of my recorded race times over the past six years and it appears that my PR for a 5k is 24:34 set back in 2003 when I was 23 years old. A few years later now I feel like I can beat that time so I’m gunning for a 24:30 this Saturday which is going to require a 7:54 pace.

As I’ve been digging around on the internet looking for race times I’m recalling how I felt about and what I remember of each of those races. I haven’t run that many: six or seven 5k’s, an 8k trail run, a couple of half marathons, and an xterra tri. My very first race though, that 5k, the very first race of entire life at the age of 23 was spectacular. I was so nervous about whether I would have to walk, would I be coming in near last, etc. I had no idea what to expect. It was fantastic.  It felt very similarly to how my first tri experience was. I love that feeling of nervousness. This is going to be my first race in a quite a while where I’m actually triyng for a PR; an entirely new set of emotions will present themselves I’m sure.

Today is a day off. I’ve got a couple of chores written down but am also planning on running, swimming, sleeping, and reading. Not necessarily in that order.