Schlotzsky's Bun Run 5K!

First of all, I was a slug on Friday and Saturday, and did nothing. Nada. Yeah, I had an all-day classical guitar festival to participate in on Saturday, but I could have woken up early enough to get in the standard pre-race easy run and stretching on my own. I did not. Yeah, I had all day on Friday to get to the gym, but I found other things to do instead. Plus, I went to the Ginger Man last night, after the festival, with a couple of my friends from that group, and we worked out all the problems of our musical world over a beer and pizza. I was fairly good, and had only one Black and Tan, but I normally don't drink at all the night before a race.

I said all that to show you that my pre-race preparation was pretty substandard. I ate badly and shut down the exercise routine for a couple of days. Oh, well. This morning, I woke up to a spectacular day. It was 47 degrees, crisp and clear. Perfect running weather. I felt a little grungy, but after a banana and Accelerade, I perked up a bit. Met Frank early at 6:45, and we strolled over to the zero marker to meet the rest of the gang for a pre-race warmup. We both had on an extra shirt, because it was so nice and cool. Our easy 2 mile warmup, with Marci, Amy and other Gazelles, went just perfectly. I was feeling better all the time. Drills were fun, as the vast majority of people gathering for the race just looked at us like we were goofy. I stretched a bit, just to work out some kinks, and then we were ready to lineup. I took a pre-race GU, just for that last boost, about 25 minutes before the race, with a last sip of water.

Frank and I ditched our extra shirts over at RunTex, and got in the crowd at the start line, along with Amy. Frank moved forward to the front of the line, but I stayed back about 15 yards with Amy. We chatted and commiserated about how hard the effort to come would be. 5K's are just hard. You go out until you feel uncomfortable, then hold that pace, speeding up if you start feeling good. They are not fun. Short, but hard all the way. Plus, I haven't run one of these in a long time. Race goals were to break 22:50 (Masters PR), break 7:15 pace, and fastest goal was to get to 22:00. I had no idea how fast I would go, but resolved to go out hard. Patrick and Alex would be cheering us on, after all.

The National Anthem singer did her best Shania Twain imitation, turning a bunch of single syllable words into broken two syllable constructs (La - And of the free, for instance). I was giggling, and Amy told me to behave. I couldn't help it. The singer was good, just used some funny phrasing.

At the horn, we were off. Amy left me behind, but I resolved to run my race. I worked my way over the first half mile through the walkers and really slow people who decided to line up ahead of me, and thought I was going really slowly, because I had to do so much darting and waiting. I was really happy to see my first mile split at 7:14. Right on pace for my mid-level hard goal. I figured that with all the extra time spent negotiating traffic, I should maintain that same effort level, and I'd be faster on mile 2. At the 1.5 mile mark, a band was playing ZZ Top's "Jesus Just Left Chicago," which is a great song, but it's really slow blues. Odd choice for a band at a race. After looping around the Dog Pound loop, Mile 2 split was 7:10. I was really doing well. Now, to hang on for the finish.

Mile 3 has a long sneaky incline on it, and as I pushed up First Street, I passed Jan, then Brent, then Amy. I had to concentrate on my own race, and kept digging. Reaching the top of that incline, I gathered myself, and pushed through the turn onto the First Street bridge. I knew the finish was maybe a quarter mile away. It was go time. Alex yelled that I was doing great as I passed him on the bridge, which helped a lot. I kept passing folks, and hit the mile 3 marker at 7:02 pace. I was going great! I kicked it in for the last .1 miles, and was making all sorts of sounds, I'm sure. At the finish, I roared across the line, and my final time was 22:04! I blasted my race goals, for the most part, 7:07 overall pace. My final sprint was at something like 6:20 pace, pretty good.

I ran a perfect race, for me. Each mile was faster than the one before, I had a kick at the end, and very very few people passed me during the course of the run. I did not leave anything out on the race course, I think. This was my 8th fastest 5K ever, out of 26 tries. It's been 12 years since I've run a 5K that fast. I think I have a good shot at a lifetime PR in the next year. It was a Masters PR by some 46 seconds, a huge margin over 5K.

Frank, Amy and I all PR'd, and it was a happy bunch of Gazelles who celebrated afterwards. Schlotzsky's puts on a good post-run scene, and we enjoyed the food and the gorgeous weather for quite a while. Marci and Frank both won medals in their respective age groups, and another Gazelle won the overall title. Alex was there for the post-race festivities, and he was beaming in the afterglow of his great Mt. Bonnell run yesterday. Of course, he'll probably go out this afternoon for a 40 mile bike ride up various mountains. :)

It was a fabulous day at the races. Now, I just need to have this last good week of training, and get ready for Indy!!