Now that the zombie apocalypse of a weekend commonly known as black Friday weekend is coming to an end, I had a little free time to recap the Dave's Running Thanksgiving Day Turkey Chase 5K. I woke up to mild temperatures and wet conditions from the rain that fell overnight. Once I got dressed and ate a little breakfast I made my way downtown to get a decent parking spot and meet my fellow Mercy Health Glass City Marathon Ambassadors for a group picture. I had to laugh when Jen, a fellow ambassador showed up in the turkey costume because I had no idea she was the turkey for everyone to chase.
After our group picture we all were talking about what times we were trying to hit, I really hadn't thought about it because it was my long run day, so my plan was to run the race and then go run another 7 miles when I got home. I wished everyone luck and took off to do a little warm up jog. This is when I noticed that I had forgot my earbuds. I absolutely hate running without music, but this time I had no choice. When I got done, our conversation about what time we all were trying for was bugging me so I looked up my 5k PR and remembered that was the day I won the
Run the Res 5k last year. I finished that race in 22:20 and after a little waffling I figured what the hell I'll give it a shot to try and beat it. I made my way to the front of the pack to ensure I could get a good start with a few minutes before the start.
Once the horn sounded I went out like I was shot out of a cannon and feeling pretty good. Now the weather never was a factor, but there was so much moisture in the air that it was misting the entire run. The mist made it difficult to see as it built up on my glasses and the roads got slippery where they used tar to patch up the cracks. When I hit the mile and a half mark, my breathing became a little labored and I noticed my heart rate was pegged close to my max. I thought about shutting it down, but decided to keep going till I couldn't breath anymore.
Coming down to the final stretch my breathing, even though was labored, had stayed pretty even. I used the short downhill to help my legs kick into one more gear for the remaining tenth of a mile. To be honest when I crossed the finish line I had no idea if I PRd this thing, but I didn't care, all I wanted to do is catch my breathe. Now that I was breathing easier, I took a look and was stunned that I PRd by 20 seconds, which was made official later in the day when the official results were published.
When I set that PR last year, I felt like I was in really good running shape vs now when I am 10 pounds over my goal weight and still coming back from my hip surgery. Needless to say I was proud of myself, but knew I still had some work to do with my conditioning. After I got home, I hit the road for the rest of the miles I wanted to get in, but I cut it down to five due to how hard I pushed running the other three.
KEEP AN EYE OUT, TOMORROW
MY MERCY HEALTH GCM
GIVEAWAY BEGINS
