[caption id="attachment_429" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="I can not possibly say enough good things about KT Tape!"]
[/caption]It really started out at lunch time - when I stopped by home to grab my KT Tape. Since my lovely wife was there, and she pre-taped my formerly injured calf for me. Now fast forward to after work, I picked up my kids and headed over to the college that it was being held at. I was a bit nervous about it as I haven't been running for the last 4 weeks due to injury, but Bryce and Elspeth (my son and daughter) did a fantastic job of keeping me from getting nervous!
For the 5k, the agency I work for had 5 men and 1 woman running. It was a nice course, despite it being a "two-loop" course, going around the campus of the school. We started out in the usual mess that all 5k's (and I assume other races) start out as, I ended up behind a group of non-runners and had to get around them.
The first mile marker I ran by at 7 minutes. This made me more than a we bit nervous as I was used to running 9-10 minute miles on my runs, but I kept going. (As a side note, I was averaging 8 minute miles in my races last year.) It was great weather to be out running - slight sprinkle occasionally, cool and no wind. Just before the two-mile marker one of my co-workers showed up and stayed with me. We hit the 2 mile marker at 14:27, and passed another co-worker just after it. The rest of the run was nice on into the mad house that was the finish area (two corrals, women on the left, men on the right - but no one was aware of it until we got there). My two co-workers got by me (I have never had a kick at the finish). According to my phone, I finished at 22:59, which I was QUITE pleased with. Official results had me at 22:51, which ties my P.R. of last year at the St. James 5k. Since My year started with surgery and I have had 3 different injuries keep me from running this year, I am ECSTATIC!!!
[caption id="attachment_430" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Runners! Runners! Everywhere!"]
[/caption]After the 5k, we had about an hour break before the relay. Our first runner did a personal record of 10:30 for her mile, and then I took the baton and headed out for mine. My first thought as my legs started moving was
OUCH!!!!!!!!!
[caption id="attachment_428" align="alignright" width="260" caption="In my dashing new red shirt!"]
[/caption]I came around the first corner, and looked at the flag-waver (ie: the person who keeps runners going the right way) and wondered why on earth I thought that running a mile after a 5k was a good idea! I focused on the backs of the people ahead of me, and started picking them off and pulling them in. (Now that's not quite as impressive as it sounds.. Most of them where rather overweight and almost all older than I am.) I came through with a time of 17:03 for the team, and our third runner headed out. He ran well (remember, he did the 5k also) and our team finished in 23:26.
And as an end note - Racing in Vibram Five Fingers is even more fun than just going for a run in them!
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