It was great weather in the morning. A perfect day to set a PR, on a flat course. Downtown Lake Orion is not hilly, but it certainly isn't flat. There's some slight up and down to the course. I'd arbitrarily say that it is 15-25 seconds slow, for someone like me.
Two laps around and call it a day. There weren't any mile markers, so it was really hard to guesstimate what the splits were. I do know that I was with John Tarkowski for the first 6 minutes, and I shouldn't be. He's about 25 sec/mile faster than I am. I backed off. There was a strong headwind heading south. Luckily that was mostly downhill, and only about 3/4 mile long. The strange thing was that as the race went on, the temperature seemed to drop, dramatically so. What started out as shorts and T-shirt weather was quickly becoming double/triple layer running weather. There was a storm front moving in, and we were right on the edge of it.
The first lap was easy enough, until of course the Lake Orion High School XC team decided that 9:30 was "just a nice easy warm up, time to turn it on." You think you're doing pretty well, and then some younger guys who collectively weigh less than you pass by as if you're running on a stationary treadmill. It's moments like that that you start to question why you're on a quest for returning to the sport, and how far along they will be into their cool down when you finally finish.
The second lap was a bit more difficult. The wind was picking up, the "pack" was thinning out, and my endurance beginning to fade. I find that no matter what shape I'm in, I've always ended up having to pace myself, as I'm not quite good enough for the group ahead, but the person(s) behind me is (are) going 10-20 seconds/mile too slow. You don't want to chance going up to the next group and end up falling off too early, and you certainly don't want to finish a race with too much energy left over. The hardest part of road racing is being able to find a perfect pace when you're alone. The people that have the luxury of running 6/7 days per week develop an almost innate sense of what pace they are racing at, but that takes consistency in training, and a lot of mileage which I have neither the time, nor the ability for. Working 6/7 days a week, raising two children, weighing too much, etc., it all takes its toll on you, and ends up making running all work and no play. This was the primary problem I had in 2004/2005, running was all work, no play. 2006 I said no more, I'm running what I want, no programs, no schedules, I run when I want to run, I run what I want to run. I listened to my mind and my body. Anyways, although I felt like I was fading, I was keying off of someone well ahead of me that was pulling back in. The first lap was 10:30ish, so I was hoping for 9:29 to finish under 20. As the course was slightly different on the second lap I can't say which was faster. I know that I crossed the line and stopped my watch. The reading: "19:59.6"
Sub 20:00 for 5K. That was my goal for all of 2006. When did I do it? Jan 01 2007 at 9:30am, 9.5 hours later than I had hoped. There was the Turkey Trot 5K, but I have to go with the official results, and not with the complaints of many of the runners. Even though most 5K runners were 30 seconds off their regular times, you go with what posts.
So it's a great start to what I hope is a great year in running. I'll be running quite a few races this year. Heat the Streets 5K, Corktown 4 miler, Shamrock Shuffle 8K, Hansons 5K, Orchard Blossom 4 miler, Cranbrook 5K, Firecracker Mile, Detroit "Run Wild" Zoo 5K, and most importantly THE CHICAGO MARATHON (Boston Qualifying 3:10), Oak Park 5K, Turkey Trot 5K, Trent's Run/Bike Race, Troy 5K, Habitat for Humanity 5K.
So to anyone out there actually reading this, good luck to you if you're at any of these races and I don't personally wish it to you. If you don't run, good luck in all that you do this year.
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