Race Results

Today I ran the Trails and Treads 5K Run in Tupelo, Mississippi. I have been posting about this race for the last several weeks and followed a 6-week plan to try to run the race under 26 minutes. I had my wife take a picture this morning right before I left. Notice I had my "game face" on:

I was wearing my Nike Shox 2:40's that now have over 375 running miles on them. The Brooks running shorts and Brooks shirt are both pretty new. I got the shorts at Trails and Treads and paid the premium price. I scored the shirt from Marshalls for under $10!

I set up a definitely diverse "Race Mix" for my ipod this morning consisting of the following songs:

• The Slam -- T-Bone & Tobymac
• Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me -- U2
• Catchafire (Whoopsie-Daisy) -- Tobymac/Moc/Papa San
• Saturday -- Paul Wright
• Gold Digger -- Kanye West
• Mission Impossible Movie Theme Song
• Lose Yourself -- Eminem

I ate a bowl of Grape Nuts Trail Mix Cereal this morning about 2 hours before race time and had a cup of coffee about an hour before. I drank water after that. I arrived at the Wellness Center 30 minutes before the race started and talked with Alex, who I work with. I peed once I arrived but felt like I needed to pee again when we started to line up for the run. I may have drank a little too much water but I think I was just nervous.

I felt a lot of pressure with this run, maybe because I have been blogging so much about my desire to break 26 minutes. I was more nervous before the start than in any race I can remember. I found out a few minutes before the start that I had failed to download the race mix correctly from my computer this morning. Fortunately, ipods have an "On the Go" feature and I was able to recreate it in time.

They started the run with a camouflage 12-gauge shotgun. Just one example of how we DO live up to our reputation in Mississippi at times! I was lined up near the front and felt like everyone left me in the dust once the gun went off. My plan was to try to run the first two miles in 16 minutes, then try to hold on to break 26 minutes for the 3.13 mile run. I felt like I was running SOOO slow at the start because everyone was taking off so fast. I was then surprised I wasn't catching up to anybody in the first several minutes. I felt like I was running too slow, but I was definitely feeling it! I probably should have warmed up before the race. I stretched a little but did nothing else other than walking the 1/4 mile down to the start line.

I was relieved when I finally reached the first mile marker - I had ran the first mile faster than I had thought - at about 7:32. I felt a little better and settled into a pretty good pace. The second mile marker seemed to come longer than I expected but when I looked down at my watch, I was just slower than my goal pace at 16:03. I felt pretty good at this point, knowing that all I had to do was run about a 9 min/mile pace to reach my goal.

That's when it hit me.

The sun had come out, the temperatures were heading to the high 70's, and the humidity was up to about 70 %. At about 2.5 miles, I was beginning to wonder if I could hold on! I am accustomed to running when it is about 20 degrees cooler than this and I could feel the difference!!!

I felt like walking but continued to hold a pretty steady pace, even though I knew I was slowing down. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to make it. I had one more turn before the finish line, a point that's just a little bit from the end. I looked down at my watch when I reached this point and saw there were only a few seconds over 24 minutes. I finally knew I was going to make it!

There was a slight hill before the final straightaway and I wondered if I should try to sprint at this point. I decided to enjoy the finish since I could see the clock and knew, as long as I could finish within a minute's time, that I would reach my goal. I then saw my cheering wife and kids and felt a surge of energy to get over the finish line. My time: 25:39. I met my goal!!!! Here are some pictures from the end:

Here's me trying to keep up with a high school cross country runner. Thankfully, it doesn't show the guy with the baby jogger that zoomed by me a few seconds earlier! The slight wedgie I had shows I have a few more pounds to lose! :-)

Here I am zooming my slow rear over the finish. The guy clapping on the right works at the Wellness Center in the morning when I work out. He's a really nice guy.

Here is me and the "fam"! We took separate cars and my wife left early since I wanted to stay to see if I won a door prize. I did! I won a small cookbook called, "Southern Delicious Irresistible Cooking". It was put together by a local manufacturing company as a United Way fundraiser.

My wife said that on the way home, my 2-year-old Ethan all of a sudden said, "Daddy run fast! Daddy run fast!"

Makes daddy proud!

All-in-all, it was a great race! Now.....on to finding my 6-week 10k plan!