Races run

Every year, I try to push myself to do a new running challenge. I want to push myself jut a little more and learn what I am capable of. Well in 2019, I made a decision to run two races in the same weekend: a 5k and 10k in downtown Norfolk. I trained for eight weeks, running about 5 days a week on average. This training went better than this past spring when I started experiencing pain in my left knee. That has since passed, but I simply wasn't able to give my best back on St Patrick's Day weekend.

This time, I felt pretty ready to attack the course. The weather was cool, but not bitterly cold, and thankfully we didn't have to deal with any rain. On Friday night, I drove downtown to get my race packet, which had my bibs and two synthetic t-shirts. I swear after running all these races, I'm never going to have to buy a t-shirt again. I went home and ate my spaghetti pie and salad and drank about 24 ounces of water. OK, I snuck in a little pumpkin pie.

I woke up Saturday at 5:15, ate a banana and a slice of whole wheat bread with almond butter, stretched, dressed, and drove the 30 minutes to the MacArthur parking garage. The walk to the park was about four blocks, and as soon as I checked in my dry bag, I started began playing some music, trying to get myself in the zone. Confident, ready, nobody is stopping me, I've got this. Wrestling Themes like Undisputed Era, Samoa Joe, and Taz did the trick.

So the 5k run began at 8 am sharp. My plan was to run a good steady race, but not too fast, I wanted to make sure I was ready and healthy for the long run on Sunday. I started playing "Born to Run" and it got me off to a good start. The only part was running over cobblestones at two different points, I had to be really careful to not roll my ankle. The last half mile or so took us right by the James River. I was able to turn it on pretty hard and finish at 21:45, the best time I've ever had at a 5k. I was able to maintain a 7 minute mile pace, which I was very proud of.

I celebrated with three Blue Moon beers and chilling an an outdoor couch while a cover band played classic rock. I don't mind Blue Moon, but gosh, it really needs to be hot out to enjoy it. Otherwise, it tastes like orangeade. As I walked back to my car, I noticed that my right calf was pretty strained, I knew I'd need to massage and stretch it before Sunday.

So onto Day 2. For the second time in my life, I was running a 10k, 6.25 miles. I was up at 5 am, had the same breakfast, albeit one extra slice of bread and almond butter and I downed a pre-workout drink after I arrived at the parking garage. Temperature wise, the atmosphere felt more comfortable, but it was also a little more windy. And after a full night of rain, I knew I'd have to watch for any puddles on the course. I began to get my playlist organized on YouTube:

Pre Race
Shield WWE Theme- Special Ops
Samoa Joe WWE Theme-Destroyer

Race
Surfing USA-Beach Boys
Born to Run-Bruce Springsteen
Safe in New York City-AC/DC
Thunderstruck-AC/DC
Hold On Tight-ELO
Rock and Roll Is King-ELO
Mama Said Knock You Out-LL Cool J
Clutch- American Wolves Theme from Ring of Honor
Metalingus-Edge WWE Theme
Eye of the Tiger- Survivor
Gonna Fly Now- Bill Conti

So we started at 7:40, about ten minutes behind schedule. Here's the advantage I had that I did not expect. The half marathon was happening at the same exact time as the 10k. Unlike the 10k runners, halfers had pace groups to help keep them on schedule. About a minute in, I saw the 1 hour, 45 minute sign in front of me. I began doing a little math in my head and realized that they were running at about eight minutes a mile. I thought that's the exact pace I want to be on here, so let me stick with them. And so for the first three miles, about half the course, I stuck with that group. The worst thing I dealt was about two miles in, I ran over another cobblestone and nearly rolled my ankle. Thankfully, after a few steps, I knew it was going to be okay.

I split from the halfers just after three miles and as they ran north, I ran across a pedestrian bridge, and back through downtown. I knew I had a good pace going, and more than anything, I wanted to be able to maintain it the rest of the race, which I figured would take about 25 minutes. 

The last mile run down the James River path was quite difficult, especially going into the wind. But I knew that it was same finishing stretch from Saturday and I was not going to stop. I was pretty surprised that there ere almost no other runners around me. I passed one wheeled runner towards the end but there was no one in front of me. As the finish line came into view, I began to move my arm up towards the crowd, trying to get them louder. Of course, I had music going, so I don't even know how loud they got anyway. I crossed the line at 47:23, a full 90 seconds faster than a year before. Another personal best, and I finished the race 15th out of 800 finishers. But what shocked me was when I check the Athlinks app and saw that I won my division by five minutes! I'd never placed in a division for any race in my life. Now by no means do I think that I was as good as some of the halfers. But hey, I did my race, they did theirs! I drank 4 Blue Moon's, and I could have probably drank 8 or 9 with no problem. 

So what's next? I have had several people in my ear telling me that I could complete a half marathon. Maybe I could. Maybe I will.