Back Out There

Back on Saturday I laced up and headed out to Bishop, GA to run my first race since returning from my injury-- the annual Will Chamberlin Memorial Santa Stroll 8K. This is only the second 8K race I've ever run, and it's about the right race distance for me at this point.

Pregame carb load started the night before at the Mellow Mushroom, an awesome pizza joint. The First Lady and I shared a cerveza and a Red Skin Potato pie, just like we did before I ran so well at the Huntsville half in 2012. It would be an omen.

It rained some during the night, so it was damp and a little chilly. The crowd was good-- about 150 competitors, and some of my running friends were there and it was nice to see them, since I don't get out to running groups much these days. There was no wind, which was nice. I can handle wind or cold, just not both. I went with wind pants over tights, and Brooks arm warmers underneath my red Athens Road Runners long-sleeved tech shirt. My Nike Pegasus 30 shoes have not let me down yet, so I stayed with them instead of my Asics Gel-Lytes.

The course is mostly flat, but there are a few curves and a couple of gradual hills to remind you of Georgia. I'd hoped to get in under 40 minutes, and maybe set a PR (under 39:20) if I was lucky.

My Garmin watch is on its last legs, so I had no idea of my pacing. It had the time of day flash up periodically, so I was able to crunch numbers and figure out my pacing went from 8:30 to 8:15 to 8:07 average pace for the first three miles. I don't really know when I put the hammer down, but I must have realized that I had about 15 minutes to go if I wanted a PR, and I'd planned on going out easy and picking it up as I went. I red-lined it over those last two miles, doing about 7:30 and 7:30, and getting in at 39:08 for a new PR at this distance. There's just something satisfying about giving a ton of effort and then seeing the results. Those 400 and 800 repeats I'd been running paid off.

The night before the race, I looked at the 2013 race results and did not expect to place in my age group, since I'd have needed 36:26 for third in 40-44. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw I took second in my AG! My time would have placed me 7th in my age group last year, but this time it was good enough.

Race swag:

Santa bobblehead SMO for placing in my age group.

So I had a great reason to stick around for the awards ceremony. It was a great run for me, and I was pleased at how I did. The next goal is the Chilly Dawg 5K in about a month, where I'll work on getting in under 22:00 on a course that's pretty flat. This is the course I ran 22:11 on back in January when I was in decent shape. Now I need to drop about ten pounds, but I'm planning on more 400 and 800 repeats. I won my age group at this race last time, and missed out on winning the master's championship by about 22 seconds. I hope to fix that this time around.