Running Results - Friends of Mothers & Infants 5K
My last race was nearly two months ago, and I somehow only managed to fit in 12 training runs for a total of 18.1 miles since then. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances. For instance, I went to Iceland for 10 days, and while I didn't run I did do a lot of hiking there. I went to Orlando for work and did absolutely nothing. I was in a car accident, and took the subsequent week off to be on the safe side because my legs were very sore, although thankfully uninjured. And lastly, I woke up one day with massive back spasms that made it impossible for me to bend over, let alone run. Those didn't subside for a good five days. If you axe three weeks off, 12 runs in 4 weeks doesn't look too shabby, and of course I was still walking the dog 3 to 5 miles a day.
Despite this lack of training, the race today went well. The course started and ended at the bar West Park Station on Lorain and looped through various West Park streets (plus a cemetery). The weather was perfect for running: about 60 degrees, no humidity, very light breeze, and a lot of cloud cover. The course had a lot of twists and turns but was quite flat except for a slight hill in the cemetery; going down it at the beginning was fantastic, going up it at the end wasn't Heartbreak Hill by any means, but it was easily the steepest incline I've run on this summer.
This was the first year that this particular race was held and there probably weren't more than 50 people total running it even if you count the kids in strollers. There also weren't any people reading off times at the kilometer marks, so I can't tell you what my splits were. However, I can tell you that with the exception of about five strides to grab some H2O at the water station I did not stop to walk even once. Combined with another strong 100 meter sprint at the end that caught two people I finished in a blazing 29:03, which is easily my best time of the summer. Only one person with a stroller beat me, so that's a plus. Of course that one person was my coworker MK, who was the only person there I knew, but such is life.
I'd love to know if the time today was better because of the weather (it was very humid the last two times out) the lack of heat (ditto), better fitness or some combination of the above. I suppose it doesn't much matter. Since I don't remember the official time from the one official 5K I ran prior to this summer back in 1998 (high 20s is all I can recall) this might well have been my PR. That's good, because I'm running my last 5K of the summer next Sunday at the Zoo. I'm told that course has some killer hills on it, so beating 29:03 might be a stretch.
Despite this lack of training, the race today went well. The course started and ended at the bar West Park Station on Lorain and looped through various West Park streets (plus a cemetery). The weather was perfect for running: about 60 degrees, no humidity, very light breeze, and a lot of cloud cover. The course had a lot of twists and turns but was quite flat except for a slight hill in the cemetery; going down it at the beginning was fantastic, going up it at the end wasn't Heartbreak Hill by any means, but it was easily the steepest incline I've run on this summer.
This was the first year that this particular race was held and there probably weren't more than 50 people total running it even if you count the kids in strollers. There also weren't any people reading off times at the kilometer marks, so I can't tell you what my splits were. However, I can tell you that with the exception of about five strides to grab some H2O at the water station I did not stop to walk even once. Combined with another strong 100 meter sprint at the end that caught two people I finished in a blazing 29:03, which is easily my best time of the summer. Only one person with a stroller beat me, so that's a plus. Of course that one person was my coworker MK, who was the only person there I knew, but such is life.
I'd love to know if the time today was better because of the weather (it was very humid the last two times out) the lack of heat (ditto), better fitness or some combination of the above. I suppose it doesn't much matter. Since I don't remember the official time from the one official 5K I ran prior to this summer back in 1998 (high 20s is all I can recall) this might well have been my PR. That's good, because I'm running my last 5K of the summer next Sunday at the Zoo. I'm told that course has some killer hills on it, so beating 29:03 might be a stretch.