First race in 22 months

Has it really been that long? Hard to believe, but it's true. (I'm not counting the 5k I walked in a non-timed 4th of July race this summer.) Today the boys and I were entered in the ORRC Blue Lake 5k. As usual, I had a set of goals:

a) Finish without walking
b) Finish under 40 minutes
c) Finish under 36 minutes

You may think I'm sandbagging. But considering that 4 days ago was the first time I've run 3 miles in the past year and half (and that included walking the first 4 minutes and then running 4 minutes/walking 1 minute), I think my goals were reasonable.

The race didn't start until 11 am so we had plenty of time to sleep in and get fueled, hydrated and caffeinated before the race. It's a beautiful sunny, fall day and was about 50 degrees at the start, with a brisk wind being the only negative factor to the weather. As my goals suggest, I planned to take it easy and see what happened. The first mile I let a lot of people pass me. My time for the first mile was exactly 10:00 minutes. The second mile I sped up a bit with a time of 9:40. I started to pass people that had gone out too fast, but I didn't feel like I was over-doing it. The third mile I was like a horse smelling the hay in the barn. I wanted to get this thing done! My time for the third mile was 9:15. I was enjoying picking off people so I just kept doing it. As I got close to mile three I was starting to feel the pace. I never felt like walking, but I did feel like I was pushing it. But my motto is, if you don't feel like puking at the end of a 5k, then you didn't give it all you had. I guess my "see how it goes" run had turned into a race.

Click to enlarge. The gal in orange passed my right at the finish, but I was able to fend the others off.

At the 3 mile mark I saw a few women just ahead of me. I wasn't sure of their ages, but I know this race gives age group ribbons six deep and I wasn't going to miss out on a ribbon because I didn't kick it in. So at 3 miles I took off and passed all three. One came back and passed me just at the finish, but I felt like puking so I knew I had done my best. Turns out all three were in younger age groups, but it was still fun to kick it in. My time was 29:48 which was good for 70/139 overall and 3rd in my age group. It's way off my PR from 5 years ago (which I think was also my most recent 5k), but I'm happy. If you had asked me yesterday, there's no way I would have thought I'd run under 30 minutes.

Marc and the little guy also had a good day. Marc finished 9th overall and 2nd in his age group with a time of 20:16. The guy who won the age group was only 10 seconds ahead. Unfortunately, Marc miscalculated the finish line and started his kick way early. Who knows, if he hadn't done that he might have had a better chance at catching him.

The LG was 2nd in his age group with a time of 27:41. That's about the same time he ran this summer. He's happy with his effort, although he didn't make his ultimate goal of beating my PR (25:26). But I'm sure its only a matter of time before that happens!

As for how I feel, my left hip feels tighter than the right, but that's pretty normal. So far I haven't been punished for my effort with a pain spike so I think I'm good to go. Up next, I'm going to keep running 3 miles every other day for the rest of this month. If that goes well, I'll start increasing some of the runs with the goal of getting up to 6 mile runs by the end of the year. If I can attain that, I feel like I'll be able to start marathon training for the Tacoma City Marathon in May. Wish me luck!

That puking feeling is starting to wear off. Marc says he collapsed on the ground after he finished so I guess he gave it his all too.