Before we even warmed up, we were swimming in sweat. The pre-race chatter began as we jogged around the parking lot. No matter what, my mind set was to break my 2-year old PR of 22:18 because after 2 years, can you really be proud of the fact you haven't gotten faster?
A quick warm up out of the way, about 50 of us lined up right before the road. A brief set of instructions by the director about mile splits then a legit gun went off and we were off and running. After 200 meters or so, we banked a hard right before a cop car and that's when the winner vanished from my sight. The first mile, I passed about 4 people and 4 passed me and after that, I basically was running alone. At the first mile marker, I looked down at my watch and realized I hit stop right after starting it. Got to mile 1.5ish's water station which featured styrofoam cups. I took one out of reflex and felt bad throwing it in to the woods immediately so I ran another minute with the cup. I tossed it anyways out of sheer stupidity.
Cars still drove around us during the race. Pre-race, the director told us that the 2nd mile marker was close to older markers. There was an old white '2', a red '2', and the new '2' all within seconds of each other. Mile 2 - 2.5, I tried conserving a bit of energy for the final kick. The good news was that my knees felt great (the adrenaline talking) so I knew I could do it.
Towards 2.5, we turned right where an older couple threw me a high five right by the bay. I had never run the course before but recognized that the end was near. I made a right turn and the final 200, I could make out the finishing time as either '22:xx' or '21:xx'. As I turned the after burners on, I saw that sub-22 was in reach. With a new PR on the line, I cranked it and had my best finishing kick to date.
21:58.
Hit the chute and the older guy asked me something but after every race, I have no senses firing and kept walking. The guy shouting the times out made sure to say nice kick twice, the last time gave me a high five. I'll take that and the PR. After finishing, I found Sri and cheered on Knapp's finishing kick at around 24:36 with a 1/2 Andy Bernard going. The post-race offered water, bananas, and watermelon and the organizers were super nice.
Having hit the gym the past two months definitely helped to negate the lack of mileage this summer. Nothing the next morning felt super sore and I felt that I powered through some spots due to core and upper body work outs. Talking to Bober, I guess it's just human nature to stop working out once running gets better. Gotta keep working out.
Still like 5ks the most although that may change once mileage ramps up, per Knapp.
I now know a new PR is worth way more than a medal or plaque.
A race of 50 people, top 3 male and female got 100 bucks, not bad for less than 20 minutes of work. That's 300 dollars/hr.
That was my best age graded time to date of 68.2, according to the Plano Pacer's calculator.
What does a 68.2 mean? That I am still on the door step of one of my many goals.
100 + national competitor
90-99 regional competitor
80-89 local competitor
70-79 above average
60-69 near average
50-59 below average
40-49 novice runner
30-39 fitness walker
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