I kind of sort of raced in a 5k in Charleston this weekend. I made the trip with my pals from Baltimore (Falls Road TWSS racing team), Ryan McGrath, Conrad Laskowski, Alyssa Godesky and Ed Aramayo. Ryan and Conrad ran the marathon while Ed, Alyssa and I invaded the 5k. For Ed, it was almost certain he was going to win and he did, easily. I promised to help Alyssa get herself a PR, since I wasn't even close to race form. The plan was to stay with her for at least 2 miles and then break off and finish with a hard last mile or less. By mile 2, we were holding a 6:18 pace steadily and she built a huge lead on the 2nd female, so I felt my job was done. I waved goodbye and sped up, maintaining a 5:00 pace for the last mile and held that for the duration of that mile. Crossed the line in 17:20 for 3mi, I guess around a 17:45 or so 5k equivalent at that pace. It felt really good to drop the hammer like that, even if I didn't really have a race on the line. I still passed about 7-9 guys and stole an AG award for myself, which ended up being a glass, so it was well worth it.
Alyssa won her first running race (and at an odd distance, since she's an ultra runner) and PRed big time, and Conrad and Ryan both came in under 3:04 in the marathon, a PR for Ryan and Conrad did it despite running at least 2 extra miles. Easily an everybody wins weekend, ITU.
So, takeaways. Despite not being in top shape, I was glad I could put in a 5:00 mile in an instant, even with a rather unforgiving headwind for more than half of it (tailwind for the last .2mi or so). But probably the best part of all was that I didn't even think once about my hip after the start. No tightness or weakness. Only during a start/stop cooldown and walking/standing around afterward did it tighten, but some stretching and massage kept it silent. That tells me it's time to start getting back to work and adding more miles and harder workouts to my schedule. I've been patiently allowing my hip to heal, and it seems to have paid off! I'm chomping at the bit to get back to it.
A shrimp n' grits 5k, yet no mention of eating either shrimp or grits??? sounds like a crappy race, if you ask me!
ReplyDeleteOh, Sean in NY, don't worry:
ReplyDeleteShrimp and Grits WERE consumed, Easily, I'm Telling You, following the completion of the races.
O, $r$ly, @Ryan. Sean, S&Gs were consumed in mighty fashion afterward. That is some good stuff, I never knew shrimp would go so well with grits, but shrimp goes well with everything as far as I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteMy prize glass has shrimp playing instruments on it.