Rise Run 5k

The plan for this past week was the normal Bagel run on Monday, speed work on Tuesday morning, some kind of run on Thursday, and the Rise Run 5k this morning. Almost! The Bagel run went well, with my foot feeling OK, but my lungs angry at the speed, temperature, and humidity they were forced to work in. Tuesday, for speed work, I actually decided to do some speed work instead of regular speed mileage. I did six repeats of 400 meters hard by 200 meters easy. As speed work exposes your feet to excessive amounts of force, it's no surprise that my foot and the knee on that leg became angry with the workout. I fought through it though, and managed to run a 1:49 final 400 meter repeat (ahhh, not bad considering). Thursday was the day I slacked, I never got around to running.

Which brings us to the Rise Run 5k this morning. It was a wet morning in Houston, so as you might expect, the turnout at this high profile but small run benefiting a school for kids with Down Syndrome was pretty small. This was the "graduation" run for the StayFIT 5k program I was unable to run with, so their contingent of fast runners, slower runners, and walkers were all present (except for Lynette who unfortunately, as it will turn out in a few paragraphs, was out of town). There was end of training season pictures, words of wisdom from coach Felix (it's wet out, watch your step), and the obligatory 10 minute warm up run. The start line was almost a disaster for this race, as kids, and some folks who clearly intended to walk the race were almost at the front. Sorry granny, you need to take the Geritol bottle to the back of the pack! With some jostling and gentle elbows, the runners were properly assembled, and the race began.

For me, the race came down to one thing, beat Coach Felix. Though I don't think anyone told him that was my goal, he ominously told me in the start chute that he was going to "keep an eye on me" during the race. I was actually regretting running in my orange (War Eagle!) running shirt as it would be easy for Felix to spy on me and try to run me down. Now, I don't think Felix was reeeeeally keeping an eye on me, but I needed some kind of motivation to push my poorly training legs and lungs, so I allowed this Felix conspiracy theory to run wild in my head.

The first mile was, well, I don't know; I never saw a mile one marker. Somewhere along that stretch, the lead male runner came whizzing back by down the out and back course with no one even remotely near. When I saw the second place runner come into sight, I thought, why not look for Jonathan, maybe he's holding strong at the front of the pack. And just shortly after that, I saw a runner clad in a StayFIT shirt appear; it was indeed Jon! I yelled at him that he was in no worse than seventh placeso as to try and give him a little kick in the running shoes (he had complained that the small happy hour we did the evening before may have been a bad idea, so I thought he might need the encouragement). I should have seen Melissa at this point, but I think I got caught up in trying to find that damn one mile marker and we crossed without me realizing it (she didn't see me either, so I don't think I got in trouble!).

I made the turn to go back towards downtown, and CURSES, there was Felix way closer to me that I had hoped. I couldn't slow pimp it back into downtown with him that close! At this point, I was even hearing him (he huffs and puffs a lot) as he ran or as he talked to his little flock of runners that I think were with him. As I came to the only water table on the course, I had a choice to make; water myself or no? You don't need water in a 5k; your body will not process it in time for it to matter. With that said though, my mouth was as dry as desert, so I thought I would "feel" better with a quick moisten of the mouth. I grabbed my cup, chugged it down, tossed the cup into the trash (it is close to Earth Day people, do your part) and continued on my way, unaware if Felix had used my pit stop as a chance to gain time on me.

I came to the two mile marker averaging around 8:38 min/miles over the first two. This part of the race was where we ran around the Astro's Minute Maid Park (quality) and I started playing mind games with myself as I knew I simply had to run a few blocks past the park, a few over, back to the side of the park, and then the finish line would be in sight. As I neared the three mile marker, I kept an eye out for Felix in case he went into silent mode and tried to pass me wide; he never showed. As I rounded onto the last stretch into the finish line, I "kicked" (not much of a kick mind you) and ambled over the line in 26:22 for a pace of 8:30. Felix, it turned out, was about 50 seconds behind me! Victory!!!

I certainly wasn't the only runner to have a victory on the day, and most of the others were actually recognized victories. Nine StayFIT runners placed in their age group, with Melissa placing third overall amongst the ladies! She picked up a ceramic shoe and $50 gift certificate to Luke's Locker (and the announcer clowned her red shoes, awesome!). Hitting the board in the overall standings for a race is an amazing accomplishment, so everyone was piling well deserved accolades onto her. The sad thing is if Lynette had been at the race, I think they would placed second and third, as Melissa was real close to the second place girl, and with Lynette as a rabbit, they both would have passed the second place person. There's always the Astro's Run in a month!

Jonathan also had a similarly impressive accomplishment. Though a tad younger than I, he is in my age group, the manly and daunting 30-34 year olds. This is the age where most runners peak, so even though he is probably as fast as he has ever been, he's peaking against stiff competition. He came close in the Lookin' Good and Trolley Runs to placing in his age group, and he broke through today! I think he was around fifth overall amongst the men, which put him first in the manly 30-34 year old age group. Impressive indeed and he received a ceramic tile painted by some of the kids from the Rise School to commemorate the accomplishment!

And even though Felix was unable to catch me (not that he was trying), he did get second in his age group. Some say Felix likes attention, some say he likes it a bit too much, but still, it was good to see him place on the final day of his 5k training program.

Some winners say "It's small race, it's no big deal", but I think that's crap. Running is about you versus the course and the clock. People don't wear their ages on their back, so you really don't know who you might be racing; you just go out and you run hard. If you show up, and run through all the pain of a 5k (it really does suck, even though it's short) you put your time on the wall and if no one can beat it, then you deserve the hardware. That's all that can be asked of you; run hard, and if you do well enough, you get the booty!

Not to end this post on a bad note, but it's the final week before Indy, and I really don't know why I'm running this race! I'm not "foot-well", and probably shouldn't run. But I will, of course, because I'm dumb and I want the medal! I have a doctor's appointment four days post-Indy, so I hope to push for an MRI to know for certain whether something is really wrong with my foot, or if I really did sprain it bad enough for it to not recover in over two months. Oddly enough, my plantar problem seems to be just as bad an my general ankle pain at this point .... maybe I just did too much too soon. Oh well, at least I beat Felix!