Let me start by saying, "It was chilly!" Sherri and I got registered. Once back at the vehicle, I stripped down to shorts and a short sleeve shirt. We had to walk about a mile from the parking area at RiverView Mounds Farm to the starting line. The wind was blowing, making it feel even cooler. I had to pee, even though I just peed before we began our trek. My stomach also felt a little uneasy. This was not looking to be a good run for me. I also scoped out the competition I thought would be in my age group. Things even looked worse. I told Sherri I would run/walk with her, but she kept telling me to go ahead. I lined up with her toward the back, because I knew there was no reason to line up at the front.
The horn sounded and we were off - downhill, so I ran kind of fast. I passed quite a few people - some that shouldn't have been at the front of the start anyway. Once the road leveled, I tried to find a good pace for myself. My "worries" went away after awhile. Two guys passed me. Then we hit a hill that had to be 1/2 to 3/4 miles. It wasn't steep, but went on forever. I passed them back. I don't remember much for awhile, except the hills. We did got down another sorta steep hill, but there were also some steep hills to run UP. I passed a guy (looked like my age group) on one of those steep hills, because he began walking. When the course flattened back out, he passed me back. He said something to me, and I said the hills are awful. He replied that the hills were "gently rolling", because that is what the race info said - "gently rolling". Downhill wasn't even gentle. The pastor of the church was driving the opposite way of we were running. He said # 11 when he reached me. I told myself right then that I wanted to finish in the top 10, so I tried to turn it up some. This was running steady uphill just after just finishing a steep uphill climb. There were two young kids (11-13 year-olds) that I had been running behind for quite sometime at this point and the guy that I swapped positions with a couple of times just ahead of me. One kid was leading the other and did his best to stay ahead of me. He would look back, and if I was getting close, he would speed up. The other kid would keep pace. I passed them quite easily along with the "guy", because he was back to walking on the uphill homestretch and I never looked back. I finished 8th overall and somehow managed 2nd in my age group. The guy that won it all (in just under 18 minutes) was also in my age group. They did not except the overall top 3 from the age groups, so I did not get the first place prize - a medal and a gift card. He got the overall and the age group medals and prizes.
After I had finished, I thought I had about 15-20 minutes before Sherri would finish. She did a 5k last week in 44 minutes on a flat course, so with all this hills, I thought it would take her longer. I decided to walk the mile to the vehicle, pee, put on some dry, warm clothes, and drive up to the finish line. If anybody said anything about it, I would say we had to pick up a granddaughter. (Crissy was bringing Lainey to us.) Sherri was already finished by the time I got there. She had finished in 36 minutes! We drove back to the farm parking area, got some free food and drinks, then went to sit in the vehicle to wait on Lainey and for the 1 Mile Fun Run runners to finish before the awards presentation. If it wasn't for Lainey, we would probably not have stayed around for the awards. I was far enough behind that I did not see the 6 of the 7 people finish ahead of me, but I was sure 3 of them had to be in my age group. They announced that you had to be present for the door prizes, so we hung around. I got a certificate for my age group. Sherri got one for being 3rd in her age group! She ran and walked, but said she ran quite a bit. She also said she passed some younger runners, too.
After the awards, we visited the petting zoo, went on a hay ride, pony ride, and a few other things that were not really worth the admission, but Lainey would have enjoyed more if she wasn't so sleepy.
Oh, I almost forgot my time. Even though I felt better for last week's 5k on a flat track, I ran this 5k around 50 seconds faster for some reason. I finished in 23:42, for a pace of 7:39. Last week was 24:30, 7:54. This was my 3rd fastest pace of any mileage. I ran a 3 mile training run in 7:24 on October 28, 2010. My second fastest was on September 25, 2010, at the Houston County Fair 5k, at a 7:27 pace.
No comments:
Post a Comment