2011 Jail Break 5k

Hey folks!  I ran a 5k, and since it's been a while since I wrote one of these blog deals, I decided to write about it.  On a side note, why do they call it writing something, even if you're typing it?  Something to think about.  Now on with the show.

The race in question is the 2011 Jail Break 5k put on by the Lexington County Sheriff's Department in Lexington, SC on 5/28/2011.  I believe it was the 5th annual.  I wasn't planning on doing this one because I had to work, but by the grace of something holy, I was able to take a half day. The race started at 8:30am, with registration and festivities starting at 6:30 am.  I arrived at about 7:15, got my number and t-shirt.  No swag bag; kinda disappointed in that.  I was number 1311, which is translated into 311 out of 480 people. I was also registered in the Clydesdale division, which is any male over 200 pounds and any female over 160 pounds.  AKA:  The fat ass division, and I loved it.

 As I was leaving the registration table I saw a couple of African-American gentlemen heading to the table.  I didn't think anything of it until the lady asked their names.  They spoke with an accent straight from Africa.  "Great" I thought, "The Kenyans are here.  Now I have no chance." headed back to my car and dropped my shirt off, pinned my number on, grabbed the Ipod and interval timer and changed from my crocs into my Mizunos. 

By the time I returned to the staging area and fairly decent crowd had started to congregate and the DJ had showed up.  With a computer and crappy speakers he cranked out the sounds of classic rock and the COPs theme song (several times).  I didn't know anybody there and I wasn't planning on meeting anybody.  I did a few acceleration gliders to loosen up and waited for the announcement.

The announcement was made to move to the starting line.  Of course they had to make it right when I had to pee.  I did my business and headed toward the starting line.  When I exited the facilities everybody was at the starting line.  I took my place in the rear of the pack with the strollers and old folk.  I set my interval timer to a 4/1 ratio (that's 4 minute run with 1 minute walk), got the Ipod ready and waited for the start.  The DJ with with the crappy sound system was going to start the race off.  I could not hear a single word that guy was saying and just waited for everybody to start moving.  I heard someone yell, and everybody started to move.  I started the Ipod with the classic "Blackened" by Metallica and started the timer.  I was off, and got passed by several strollers.

As I crossed the start line I heard this god awful "roaring" sound.  What the hell was that.  Was it the second coming of Christ, a zombie apocalypse... No, it was the Lexington County Sheriff's helicopter, flying low and scaring the turds out of people. 

After my first 4 minutes, came the walk portion.  People, as nice as they are and not knowing my plan, began to cheer me on and say stuff like, "keep pushing," and "you can't walk now."  I just nodded, waved and took off after my minute walk time.  The course was not bad, it just had a lot of slight incline hills.  What I mean by a slight incline hill, is that it is not steep enough to kill you, but steep enough to burn your legs.  As soon as the burn was over for one hill, I was going up another hill. 

At about the half way mark a guy in a yellow Navy shirt passed me.  Now, I was passed by a lot of people and since I'm not a racer I did not care.  Navy shirt guy got about 40 yards in front of me and began to walk.  Why does this guy stick out from the rest?  I'll tell you.  As I got close to this guy, he turned around, saw me and began to run.  My 4 minutes of running was up, I started to walk, he looked at me and he began to walk.  I passed him when I ran, and he passed me when I walked.  This went on for the entire last half of the race.  I was not trying to beat this guy, but he sure as hell wanted to beat me.  He began to take more walk breaks and kept on trucking and passing him with some distance. 

I turned a corner and saw the finish line.  This guy was out in front, and I was in my walk portion.  He began to run.  I decided to run, then sprint.  This is where the Galloway run-walk method comes into play.  Since I was taking frequent walk breaks, I was conserving energy and recovering from my runs.  I was able to spring the last .10 of the race without pain, or being winded.  I passed Navy guy and left him way behind.  I finished with a time of 34:29 and a pace of 11:17 and PR'ed.  Only by a little less than 30 seconds, but a PR is a PR.

Unfortunately I was unable to stay for awards and festivities.  As soon as I was done I grabbed me a bottle of water, walked around for a bit, got in my car and left.  I had to go to work.

I like to think that I help motivate a person today.  I'm pretty sure that the Navy guy was thinking to himself, "I got to beat that fat guy."  He was so determined to be beat by me that he pushed hard to the end.  Your welcome Navy guy.

The Fallen Heroes 5K

Hey All.  This is my second blog post and my first "race" report.  I put race in quotations because I was doing all but racing today.

The race is the Fallen Heroes Memorial 5k put on by the University of South Carolina Naval ROTC that benefits the Wounded Warrior Project; a great organization by the way. 

The race started at 8am; therefore I wanted to be there by 7am.  I got the wife and kid up at 5:30 so they could wake their "no sense of urgency butts" up and get going.  Like a good runner, I had all of my essentials packed and my outfit laid out and ready to go.  I wore some Under Armour shorts that I love, and a "GASP," cotton Marine shirt.  Not the most comfortable thing to run in, but it fit with the military theme of the run.

We left the house at 630 with little setbacks or distractions.  Tyler was tired and cranky and was whining the whole way to Columbia.  Did our check in thing, and got our swag.  They gave Cindy and me our numbers; they didn't tell us which number was whose, they just handed me both of them and our swag bag.  The d-tag we used was the one that was tied into the shoe by the laces.  I did not know how to properly attach this thing, so I stared blankly at it for about a minute trying to figure out the best approach to this thing.

Once the tag was attached (right or wrong, still don't know) Cindy and I met up with the group of runners that we had signed up with the run.  The group consists of mostly people I work with and their spouses.  About 15 in all (got a discount on registration fee if we signed up in a 10 or more person group).  There was the guy who had completed his first marathon earlier in the year, me who just got into running, the Judge who ran the Boston Marathon the week prior, three strollers and the rest of the folks were running their first race ever or in a long time.

At about 5 minutes till the start the organizers moved us to the starting line.  There were about 200 people all together, which is not bad for a 2nd year event.  I had my Ipod set to the workout run play list, the phone with the I map my run app up and running and my Gymboss interval timer set to 3/1 ratio.  The gun went off.  Actually, I don't know what they used to start the race, I had Blackened by Metallica blasting in my ear and I couldn't hear a darn thing. So, I just started running when everybody else did.

The first thing encountered was a hill.  Maybe .10 miles long, not steep, but steady.  We then made a right and another .10 mile long, not steady hill lay ahead.  About that time my 3 minutes were up and was time to start walking.  Several of my group passed me, as well as 3 firefighters in full bunker gear.  I had found my motivation, don't get beat by the firefighters.  I began to lose some gas a little after the turn around.  I slowed my pace down for the next 2 intervals and then picked it back up.  The rest of the race was uneventful to say the least.  I just ran the out and back.  NO injuries, no pain just running. 

At about the 2 mile mark I saw my boss about 100 yards in front of me, and the firefighters about 150 yards in front of me.  My motivation had changed, beat my boss.  I noticed that he was walking as well and I was still in my 3 minutes.  I walked for my 1 minute and he began to run.  I had him in my sights but was unable to close.  The second hill from the start was approaching and I picked up my pace and tried to catch up, but to no avail.  He made the left down the second hill and toward the finish line.  I thought, I will sprint down the second hill and beat him.  I guess he had the same idea, because I rounded the corner and readied for the sprint, and he was gone.  Dammit, I thought I was going to beat him.  It didn't bother me, because I was there to have fun, not to win, but I still sprinted.

I finally crossed the finish line at 35:07, 194 out of 270.  Not fast, I know, but I had shaved 2:53 minutes off of my time from my previous 5k and dropped my pace by almost a minute a mile.  I believe I did better because I went into the race with laid out plan and I stuck to it.  The improvement that I made showed me that I am getting better as a runner.  I had beat a couple of people from the group and the women with their strollers.

Cindy and I stayed around for the awards ceremony.  Some people from the group won some age group prizes and the boss won a month free to a gym from the raffle.  After that we headed back to the house, showered up and I went to Hardee's and grabbed me one of the turkey burgers; pretty tasty actually

All in all, I had a great time.  I improved, the course was fun and I got to do it with a group of friends.  I am ready for the next challenge, whether it's another 5k or something greater.