Running journal, Saturday, 2006-04-22

Running journal, Saturday, 2006-04-22
Resting heart rate: n/a (forgot)
Day: Saturday
Date: 2006-04-22
Weather: sunny, 12 km/h wind
Temp: 11 C (51.8 F)
Time: 07:00-09:15
Terrain: Flat
Comments: 5-km race day, the UC-Davis Medical Center's 6th Annual Run Against Pain. I fell asleep around 12:00, but lay awake until about 01:00. Woke at 05:00, got up, ate a banana, drank water, shaved. Nicked myself this morning on my chin, and noticing the flow I wondered if it would be a problem later (it wasn't). With four hours sleep I felt groggy. Wore my red shorts and a red training trail shirt. I never thought red was my color but I like it. Over the top of this I wore my windbreaker pants and my blue superman tee-shirt. One function I enjoy using with my watch is the timer function. I timed my trip to the race start this morning, but I forget how long it took (groggy). I left around 06:45, and arrived around 07:10. I parked a moderate distance from the start, and walked in the cold, windy morning air to the tent where I picked up my pins, bib, chip, race packet, and tee-shirt. I enjoyed arriving early because I like the low-pressure of getting used to the area when it's still early. I went back to my car and looked through the packet, then read Galloway's Marathon book, browsing the back pages until around 30 minutes to the start. At that point, I walked for fifteen minutes. For the next ten minutes or so, I jogged in the parking lot, around the building, snagged two cups of water, a bit of a bagel, and people-watched. When the time came to line up, I was near the rear of the pack. The air had warmed a few degrees by 08:30, but it still helped to stay limber by bouncing in place. I noticed some of the techniques other, more muscular racers employed -- running with high knee bends, short sprints. I noticed the number of people waiting in line for the toilets, and decided to skip the cold, windy wait. When the air horn sounded, I monitored my GPS speed. Initially I figured I would run about a 5.0-mph pace, or about a 36-minute 5K. Then I noticed everyone else running faster, and I kept up. 5.5-mph, 6.0-mph. About a quarter-mile in, I noticed everyone leveling off at about 5.5-6.0-mph. Quite a few people passed me initially as I maintained my even pace. About 3/4 mile in, I saw a muscular guy pass me, and I was not enjoying running with people trapping me on three sides, so I decided to push myself a bit and see what I could do. I moved to the right side, dodged a pile of grass clippings, and began overtaking people. I enjoyed this, watching my pace increase to 6.0-mph, 6.5-mph, 7.0-mph, 7.5-mph. I leveled off around 7.0-7.5-mph. I overtook the people pushing baby strollers that had so effortlessly passed me early on. I passed the first water station, and noticed that the leaders had already doubled back on T Street, which I observed with respect for their pace. I continued overtaking people, noticing that people I passed had dropped off their pace a bit, breathing heavily. The GPS watch is so handy in these situations, because I can maintain my speed while minimizing the chance of running too hard. I stopped at the second water stop, and noticed they were handing out lemon-flavored Gatorade, which tasted good. By mile two, the 7.5-mph pace was beginning to wear me down a bit. I noticed a slender woman with a pig tail, shorter than me, and a sky blue outfit turning around about a block in front of me at 42nd Street. As I rounded the corner and began running up a small incline back to 48th Street, I caught up to her and passed her. Observing this surprised me, since I had made up so much time and distance. A photographer snapped a picture of me at the corner of T and 48th. As I made my way back toward the starting line/finish, I noticed I felt the beginning stages of exhaustion. My left-brain was kicking in, looking at things negatively, thinking about how nice it would be to stop and rest, how I couldn't imagine making it the whole distance to the finish. I continued to pass people, my pace dropping to about 7.0-mph at this point. I noticed one man pass me and as I watched his running form I thought to myself, "Wow, it's like I'm standing still and he's moving so effortlessly." And he was, he increased his lead by about a block before the finish line. Right before the finish, another photographer took my picture as I finished. I remembered to look into the camera this time. At the finish, I crossed the mats, and held up my sneaker for a woman to cut the nylon zip tie holding my racing chip to my shoe. As I lost my balance momentarily she smiled widely, and I appreciated her sense of fun. I forgot to look at the time until I left the chute, and when I did it was about 28- or 29-minutes. I think this might have been about one or two minutes after I finished, so I am thinking 28-minutes for the time. I grabbed a bottle of water, drank it down, then walked over and grabbed the two bottles of Naked juice. I didn't stick around for the raffle prizes, instead deciding to take my mentally tired self home. I felt tired but strong after the race, and have felt few if any problems this evening other than a sore left foot (perhaps because of the Plantar virus that has reappeared, grr). Treating that with duct tape, and have ordered sulfur soap. When I got home I was active for a while, then I took a 90 minute nap, which helped considerably. I considered running again to bring the total to 10 miles, but decided against it, given the stress from the morning run and my tired state. Overall, a positive first 5K run of the season. :) I do not understand why race organizers measure a 5K/10K race in one-mile increments. Perhaps the fewer markers translates into easier logistics. Also, I commented to myself twice how much I enjoy passing the Shriners Childrens' Hospital statue on their front lawn. The lawn is spacious, green, and well-maintained.
Time: ~28 minutes
Goal Time: n/a
Distance: 5.0 km (3.1 mi) http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=139878
Total Distance For Year: 419.9 km (248.1 mi)
Weight (after run): n/a (forgot)
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: sore on the bottom of my left foot
Foods eaten today: Powerbar, banana, bit of bread, Naked Green Machine, Naked Orange Juice, Jelly Belly jellybeans, Snickers Chewy Chocolate Peanut Marathon Energy Bar, Palmer Hollow Milk Chocolate Bunny, Stove Top San Francisco Sourdough stuffing, green beans, chip and mint ice cream