Race Report:: Clarendon Day 5k

I ran 19:20 Saturday which I was pretty pleased with given my "training". I came through 2 miles in 12:03 and needless to say the last mile was ugly and long. As Pat warned me before my first 5k last year, "It's that final .1 that really gets ya." I was able to pull out a furious mid-packer's kick to pass a pack of 5 the final .1 which included a 51 year old and my friend Tourist Mike.

Tourist Mike waxed me in the 98 degree 5k I ran earlier this summer. He's one of those naturally fit people who can run a fast 5k of pure fitness. He also doesn't really have a competitive bone in his body and appeared completely unphased by the race afterward while I was lying in the grass gasping for air.

The bottom corner of our race bibs contained a coupon for a free beer at Whitlows afterward. Over 100 sweaty people drinking beer in the back bar at 9 am was an interesting scene.

It's been 3 days now and my quads are still very sore.

I Can Still Compete Damn It Part 2 Damn It

After re-reading my first entry I like that I spelled Mary with two r's, fuck'em.

OK, so the instructor took the top ten runners in the group (I think there was about 25 total in the advanced) and we did a timed mile. I got really nervous, I wanted to finish the workout I started at the park. Here Are My Balls Shorts lead the first two laps and took us through at 2:40 - which felt crazy fast. I was surprised everyone in the group was still there. I started to think that maybe everyone held back at the park knowing that probably we would have this mile. Luckily after the 1000 mark, the pack thinned quite a bit. HAMBS dropped way back, leaving me and William & Mary girl. I was leading her around the turn, but she passed me at the straight and I heard the instructor say "here she goes".

Now I felt OK and I stayed with her. The whole workout, including the park, felt comfortable to me. I think the familiarity of doing a track workout and working out with a group made it almost easy. It's hard running by yourself nowadays. Waa.

Now back to the action: I could have passed her right back, she definitely did a short lived surge, but I decided to tuck in behind her (jason thought this was funny)... maybe she was going to bust out a 65 last lap? With about 300 to go she slowed, so I made my move and started going as hard as possible. After about 100 I was in PAIN. Arms, legs, stomach everything was on fire and stuff was coming out of my nose and mouth and W&M was still with me! Oh shit, that bitch, she tricked me! I barked at her, "Whore face whore head!" No. I did not do that, but I did dig down deep and was able to hold her off and beat her by 3 or 4 meters! I was dead. 5:37 was the final time. My sister later told me I was being obnoxious. She thought I looked like I could have easily beat her. I don't agree with her at all. I think I looked disturbing.

Authors notes:

Jason when I was on the phone with you a few weeks ago I told you I ran 6-8 miles a week. You reacted like I said 6-8 miles a day. Just to clarify - I said a week.

I don't know if the W&M girls name was really Tara.

I skipped the following day of Platoon, but did Friday and Saturday.

Redskins suck.

I Can Still Compete Damn It!

Jason browbeat me into posting my latest running adventure. I was going to start a blog about guys who used to blog on Dusty Spikes... I guess I can't now.

Last week my sister talked me into doing Platoon Fitness, it's a 6 day fitness course that meets at 6am in a field with a track and does army-like training for an hour, $25 for the whole thing. http://platoonfitness.com/ It's hard as shit. Day one is upper body, two - lower, three - cardio/running, four back to lower, then upper, and the last day is a combo day. I did the beginner level on all the days except on the cardio day. That day I went with the advanced group to throw down (after sizing them up quite a bit), and throw down I did.

We ran to a park that looked a lot like Purcell to do a work out called "chase the rabbit". You get paired up with a partner and one of you sprints ahead on the park's gravel trail and then you have to catch that person before the trail ends, it's about a 400m loop. If you get caught you have to do "25 burpies" - which is a pushup jumping jack thing. I was not getting caught so the instructor kept pairing me up with better runners - like I was advancing through a video game. My last partner, who I think was the second best fit person there, was a tri-athlete of some sort. He had on tri-athlete shorts, aka "here are my balls shorts". I beat him easily and the instructor asked me if I wanted to try to beat Tara, who was the best runner in the group and she was wearing a WILLIAM AND MARRY T-SHIRT! I said "Let's go" and the instructor said not today because we did enough loops (we did about 6) and that we are going back to the track to warm down. Now Platoon instructors like to play mind games, they tack on reps when you think you are finished and such. When we got to the track the instructor said "Ok top ten rabbits on me. We are going to do a timed mile!"

I'll finish this post later. To be continued...

Racing Season

Racing season starts tomorrow with the Clarendon Days 5k. It's not by design that my racing season coincides with cross country season. It's more the new reality that it takes me 4-5 months each year to get through the nagging injuries and get to the point where I can run 3-4 30 minute runs per week. Sadly enough, 10-15 miles a week is what I consider fit these days and gives me the confidence I need to enter a few local 5ks. For tomorrow, I'll be shooting for sub-20, at best mid-19s if I execute my race strategy to perfection. I may not be competing for age group awards but I can guarantee a furious kick down the final stretch. What I lack in fitness, I will make up for in race strategy and familiarity with the roads and sidewalks of Clarendon.

Running at Sea

I was on a U.S Naval Ship for 10 days back in June. Needless to say, that's a pretty awful environment to attempt to run in. You have two options:

1) The flight deck: I was told it was 3 and 1/3 laps per mile on the hard concrete flight deck. You have to get in your run before 8 am since that's when flight ops start.

2) The Treadmill: I've never been the most coordinated person nor do I have what the sailors call "sea legs". Attempting to run forward while you are shaking back and forth has the potential for a very embarrassing ship experience.

I did run my first race of the season on Father's Day when they schedule a 5k on the flight deck at 8 am. I took 3rd place behind a marine and navy sailor. I'm proud to say I did not lose to any reservists.