Running The Race

This is the time of year when there are a number of races to choose from every weekend. There were two within a couple of miles of each other in my town yesterday. But again for the 4th years I ran the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home Run4Kids 5K. For no other reason, that it really is a local race. You see the course passes my house twice and there is a water stop in my front yard. It is hard to get more “local” than that!

This year, both Sara and Amy signed up to run. About 7 am, we headed out the door and walked to the start. This year, they claimed the race was “chip timed”, so we picked up our chips and headed to the starting line.

Saw a number of friends as we waited for the gun, Todd, and Jeff along with David S. What was curious, about the starting line was there was no chip mat only two orange cones, one on each side of the road. We positioned ourselves near the front. The gun fired and off we went.

The course is rolling hills and a large part if it is on the roads that I cover most days, so I felt like I had the “home court” advantage.

I have placed third in my age group the last two years, so I was hoping to move up. But being at the top of my bracket, I also hoped that some young speedster had not just turn 50.

I wanted to start out at a pace that I could maintain and then hang on to the end. I crossed the mat at the finish line at 23:11. That was good enough second in my age group! (The best I can figure is they used the chips to order the finishers. Seems like a waist of using the chips to time.)

Todd and David S. both placed second in their age groups.

At the last minute, Amy decided to stay and pace Sara. Sara has done a few 5Ks before over the years but never really has prepared adequately. Her goal this time was to run the whole course. With Amy’s help, Sara met her goal. I told Amy that she was “paying it forward”.

Here are my splits….

Saturday afternoon, I also did a “brick” to get ready for the GJCC Tri on Memorial Day. Rode 8 miles and then ran 2 miles. Just wanted to practice the transition and running after riding.

Training for the week
Sun: 8 miles w/ amy – 1:27:05
Mon: 5 miles – 43:20, 8:39 pace, 700m swim
Tues: 5 miles – 43:28, 8:40 pace
Wed: 700m swim
Thur: 7 miles – 1:02:35, w/8 x 100m strides, 8:54 pace
Fri: 700m swim
Sat: Run4Kids 5K – 23:11, pace 7:30 – bike 8 miles, run 2 miles

Total for the week: 30 miles

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2008 at 10:51 am and is filed under Race Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.