Shitty Race

So, I woke up today feeling good. The legs were pretty loose and the motivation was there, so I was looking forward to a good 5K race. I woke up around 6:45 and was out the door by 6:55. Heading down to Miller Park I put an old CD (Methods of Mayhem) in the CD player to boost the motivation even more. There's nothing like the mix of Tommy Lee and rap to get the blood pumping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIpzi3Tjj3Y.

I pulled into Miller Park around 7:15 and met up with some of the InStep guys. We did a 3 mile warm up and I was even more encouraged with how the legs felt. After some stretching and relaxing we lined up for the race.

The race stated and alot of people went out quick; I was one of them, but the legs were good and the new flats I had on were treating me well. I went through the mile at 5:18 and knew that I had to slow it down. I was still feeling good, but dropped it down to 5:35 for mile two. After mile two the legs started to give out on me. I slowed the pace down to around 6:00, but I was loosing gas quickly. At that time some guy came behind me and started drafting off of me. I knew I was falling quickly and I was getting pissed off. So I turned around and told him to pass me (not a good thing to do - - - I shouldn't have wasted my energy). The guy responded back saying I was going faster and he was going to draft off of me. Now if you know me I tend to have some road rage when it comes to driving. I don't deal well with stupid drivers. So I applied that to this race. Knowing I was coming to a halt in the race I started to weave a little back and forth across the trail to try and get this guy off of me. No luck, though! He followed me. So being the guy I am I just slowed down and made him pass me. We fought like this for a 1/2 mile and at this time my hamstring was not feeling right and the side ache wasn't doing me any good. I had to do the worst thing that anyone could do - - - I walked for 5 steps, got my composure and then started back up.

I finished the race in 18:15 (Last mile was like a 7:20 - - really, really, really shitty) which is not a good effort. I know if I didn't screw around with that guy I may have done better, but at that time my motivation was out of the race and I just wanted it to be done. You know it's a bad thing when the last 5K I ran was faster than this one and I ran 20 miles prior to the run.

After the race a 1/2 dozen InStep guys went on a 4.25 mile warm down which felt pretty good. So overall I got in 10.25 miles, but the race wasn't anything to write home about.

Overall we won the team division and I was 3rd in my age group, but it was almost embarrassing getting 3rd in my age group considering the piss poor effort. The one thing i did realize is my running makeup isn't for this short stuff. I know I have a low 17 high 16 in my legs for a 5K, but I don't train enough for a 5K. I think I'm more for the longer races.

Oh-well, it was free for me to run this race, so I guess I can't complain. And Hank Aaron was there, so overall it was a good day. Now all I need to do is get some good, long miles in so I can put in a good effort at Lakefront.