Monday, May 3, 2010

My May Day

On the first of May I ran a 3.5 mile road race, my first of the season. It was a beautiful morning, hot and sunny. My mom came over to watch the kids so I had plenty of time by myself before the race to people watch (and presumably warm up).
There were probably over 500 people participating, including the walkers. The race was sponsored by Lawrence & Memorial Hospital (which is where I was born). There were several teams of runners from the various hospital departments and their matching shirts all had catchy slogans: labor and delivery had hot pink shirts with "Fundus Among Us" on the back, the pharmacy people's shirts said "Drugs R Us," the surgery said "Slash and Dash," and the physical therapy shirts said "Rehab: Not just for addicts." I got to read all these shirts not just while milling around before the start but while they passed me throughout the course. :o) I started near the front line and finished the race at a blistering pace for me, but well behind the pack (I came in 244th--the winner could have almost ran the race a 2nd time and still beaten me). Actually, I finished in the top 50th percentile for my age group, which is a massive improvement over my finish at my first 5K in September. The top finishers all had sub-six minute mile times, and the top female finisher was a 15 year old. Some time I'd like to watch one of these races from the finish line because I'm curious to see just how fast a 6-minute mile is (since I'll never get there myself). These are the people that take themselves a little too seriously for my taste. But I hope they're having fun. And the winners got a little trophy.
Overall I feel like I ran well, and I am proud to say I didn't puke, unlike the guy I passed at the three mile mark. :o) However, I think I should have stretched more because now and then I catch myself walking around like a stiff-limbed zombie. And that's only after a 3.5 mile race. I don't see myself in any 10K's anytime soon!

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