Run for Haiti 5K

"Cause I am barely breathing,
and I can't find the air"
- "Barely Breathing", Duncan Sheik

Weight: 157

This morning I ran a little 5K race. Honestly... I'm not sure why. I mean, America has pretty much already forgotten about Haiti and the earthquake, as there has been something like 4-5 other earthquakes since then (none as devestating, but some closer to home). But I think it was the cause that got me to sign up.

It's not a real smart thing to do right before a Half Marathon. Pushing yourself hard for 3 miles is a good way to pull a muscle or hurt yourself when you haven't been preparing to run that fast or with that intensity. But I've never been able to 'just take it easy', especially when the field is so small and I might be able to claim an age group award.

(Me winning age group awards is not about me and my talent or skill... it's about all the real runners who didn't come out and run that race)

In addition to this being a bad idea normally, I hadn't run all week. My foot was really hurting, so I did nothing but ice it this week. Plus, being the first week off Lent, I made up for lost time with drinks on multiple nights, and extreme consumption of candy. Wednesday night the scale was reading 161... the heaviest I've seen in a while.

But at 7:30 I was slurping down some raspberry energy gel, and at 8 I was out the door. It was colder than I'd hoped, hovering around 40. I don't know how many runners there were, but I'd be surprised if they got to 75 people total.

The gun went off and so did I... man, I was feeling REALLY good... for about a half mile. I knew I had gone out too fast, my lungs were already burning, my legs were beginning to feel fatigued already, and the course was about to go uphill. The person calling splits at the first mile said "5:50"! I knew that was too fast for me... too fast for the first race in a long time, too fast for a 'tune up' race before a Half marathon, and too fast for me to be able to maintain (for now anyway). but at this point, only one person was ahead of me (and he was a good 30 seconds ahead of me).

Maybe 100 steps later, two people passed me. A male and a female. Sure, it's sexist to say how much I hate being 'chicked', but there was a time when that never happened. I long for those days again.

At about the 2 mile mark (split 12:50??? Is it possible I slowed THAT much?) another female passed me. I tried to hang with her... and I'm sure we helped each other a bit. But ultimately I could not keep pace with her.

I did have a little extra for a finishing kick, but just a little. My breathing was horrible the entire time, and even now (5 hours later) I've still got the dry coughs. Finishing time was about 20:23 - not horrible, not great. I'm not unhappy with that time, but not happy with it either.

I think I could have done better... but, pre-race, I had to carry my daughter on my shoulders for about a mile and a half, and this effected my back more than I'd like to admit (she weighs 50 pounds... not the best 'warm up'). Had I paced myself better, I think sub-20 was in my reach.

And in the aftermath, my right foot is in some pain. I've iced it, but it still hurts. I will probably have to take it easy between now and the Half. My left Achilles is slightly aggrevated too. Not hurting, but I'm definiely aware of it.

We leave for Nashville next week... for 9 days. Might be a break in blog posts... but hopefully I cna come back with a story about a PR for 13.1 miles