Joseph’s 24th Annual 5K Road Race

BRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! That is the word of the day, for the end of April Mid 30’s and 20 mph winds made for a cold race this morning. Otherwise I loved the course, it was back at where I used to teach and it felt kind of strange driving into the driveway after almost a year.  I got to see a teacher that I worked with (Sue M), a former co-worker from Good-Will Hinckley (Mike G) and some other runners that I have seen and talked with at the races – I’ve been to.

I had to laugh though, there was a motorcycle training class in the parking lot, which caused a lot of people to look around for the race registration (including me).  One thing I found out that my Presto Faze running shoes are not great at is standing on telephone poles that are laying down – I slipped off one while waiting and drove a 1/4 inch sliver into my hand (had to do safety pin surgery before the race).

Neither the wind or the cold really bothered me all that much and I felt that I was starting a little faster than usual, but my times were really slow at the split points, so I don’t know how accurate they were? Unfortunately, I didn’t push that hard and it was more like a hard tempo run than a race pace.

This is where my lack of speed work really shows – I just don’t know how to run fast, with this new form. I seem to be able to go far at a pretty steady pace, but going faster just feels awkward. I will start to work on that over the next few months and get some of that speed back that I have lost.

How did I do?

That being said, my 23:25 was still a new PR and I finished 10/45 and won my age group, so I felt pretty good after the race. I haven’t come in first in a race since high school, so catching an age group win was pretty satisfying. For winning my age group, I got to choose my favorite snack – whoopie pies!

Here are some pictures that I took this morning:

Overall, I was very happy with my race and how I did!  I am also using this for my Twitter Road Race result 🙂 so it was a twofer.

Which shoes did I wear – the Nike Presto Faze, they didn’t bother my ankle a bit (no blood on the sock) and I didn’t think about them during the race, which meant they did everything I expected of them and they were not a distraction. I now remember why I liked running in these shoes so much.

Now to just get it to warm back up again and get rid of this wind ;-).

I really do like the small local races, they are low-key and just fun to run. Plus I enjoy meeting new runners and seeing old friends or runners before and after the race. I want to say thank you and that the organizers and volunteers did a great job with the race!!!!