Saturday evening we headed to Lake Degray for the Dam Night Run. Temps were 101 when we left Cabot just after 5pm. My plan was just to have fun and not race this one as was Annette's, Brenda's and Bailey's. Brenda is also suffering from PF like I am. Annette and Bailey are running the San Francisco Marathon next weekend on August 3rd so they couldn't afford an injury in a 5k.
This is a really fun race but it's always hot. Everyone parks at the boat launching ramp and then gets trucked up to the starting line of the race. Last year we rode on the back of lumber trucks and this year we lucked out and got in a bus. There had to be close to 700 people racing this so getting everyone to the start line was quite the chore. The race was suppose to start at 8, but after getting there around 7:30pm, we waited and waited. Truckload after truckload of runners came in. Needless to say, the race didn't start on time. It was 8:30pm or a little after before we got started. Thats a long warm up if your an elite runner.
Since I hadn't really ran any in three weeks it seemed somewhat hard but we tried to run slow. I tried to run slow but I wanted to take off. That really made it hard for me. I knew I had to stay around a 10 minute mile or slower so not to hurt the foot. Brenda, Annette, Bailey, Ty and myself ran pretty close together for the first mile. We talked and dodged in and out of the slower people. A couple times I would look at my garmin and we would be running in the 9 minute range so I would slow it down. We were all dying of thirst by the time we got to the water stop at about 1.5. I walked the water stop and the water was so cold. Annette and Brenda didn't waste no time and they were gone. On one of the hills I decided to walk just to slow myself down and give the foot a break. Plus it was still at least 90 degrees. I think I walked one more time before the finish which is on a nice downhill. I really had to hold back here as I knew a fast downhill would hurt my foot even more. Going in to the finish I was running next to Ty, Bailey's husband. He doesn't like running but I figured I would see if he was going to be competitive. I started running a little faster and he stayed right with me. Then I made a move like I was going to sprint and he took off. I didn't sprint, but it was fun giving him that chance to beat me, knowing all the time that if I hadn't been hurt it wouldn't happen. I was also hoping that maybe that would spark his interest in running a little more. Beating someone thats normally faster than you is always fun!
I ended with my worst 5k time in 2 years. 32:52. Last year I ran this race around 29:32 and I know I could have been in the 26 minute range this year. Oh well, maybe next year.
After the race everyone had a big tailgate party with food & fellowship. Then we watched the awards. Several of our ladies won age group awards. The awards this year were classic rock and roll vinyl albums. Pretty cool! Especially if you grew up in the 70's.
I think we ended up getting home just after 12am, hot, tired, and drained. Sunday plans called for a 9am bike ride which I will write about later.
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2 comments:
Great report! I bet it was dang hot. I was on the couch watching TV at that time... LOL
I can't speak for anybody else but I WAS drained at the end of the race. I ended up with 2 walk breaks myself, 1 at the water station and the 2nd between miles 2 and 3.
Gab
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