Race Day: Fellowship 5k 2008

Location: Roswell, GA
Time: 19:54
Pace: 6:24/Mile
Place: 1st (Age 30-34)
Place: 3rd Overall

Today's race was a GREAT idea. At first I was playing with the notion of not running, or actually running it at a pace that would adhere to the Sushi, Sake, and Ichiban pre-race meal I had last night. You see, the weather was cold (30s) with fog (AKA-Light Rain) and I was feeling more like a nice jog rather than leaving everything I had on the race course. Plus, the recent lack of training has plauged my mind with visions of cruising on my couch rather than my racing flats.

Thankfully, I opted for the racing flats and gave myself a goal. Run at 19:05, or if my pace was off due to the extra wasabi my body was trying to digest, come in under 20:00. My first mile came in at a blazing 5:52. That kind of pace was too much to hold on two for the remaining mileage so I backed it off to about 6:30/mile thinking that I would be able to maintain that pace and come in just under the 20:00 goal.

The course was hilly and I was happy to see the downhills. I have been taking advantage of running strong up hill efforts during my training runs and that is how I managed to keep up with the front two runners. I don't normally pick up the pace during the downhills but today I openend up my stride and kept the pace fast throughout. All in all, I felt strong during the race and was able to come in just under 20:00 at 19:54.

Race Results
1st Place in my age group (30-34) and 3rd Place Overall.
Racing today was a GREAT idea.

Added Bonus
The Race Director held a raffle to give away two round trip tickets to go anywhere Airtran will fly. By some stroke of Divine Intervention, I won! Again, racing today was a GREAT idea.

Running is a good thing!!!