It was a warm, almost 80 degree, evening in White Bear Lake and the humidity was fairly high. It had been a year since I last ran a 5k and I wasn't sure what to expect.
About 200 of us toed the starting line and when the starter sent us on our merry way I flew out of the gate and after about 100 yards knew I was going way to fast so I slowed to what I thought at the time would be a more sustainable pace. As I arrived at the mile one marker I looked at my watch and it read 6:04, surely that couldn't be right there was no way I could sustain this pace but I decided to press on see what would happen. I was certain that by the time I reached mile 2 I had slowed considerably so I was thoroughly suprised to discover my watch said 12:14 at this point in the race. I had just run the fastest two miles of my life and I was starting to really feel it!
I pressed on but felt the energy leaving my legs and the third mile became a challenge but I made it through it. Upon reaching the three mile mark I turned on the burners for one last pick-up to take me through the finish line. I ran into the chute and straight through the other end as quickly as possible as
I grabbed the edge of the large garbage can and started to dry heave. I had nothing left, I had just averaged 6:36 for the race finishing in 20:28 and a new PR for the 5k, beating my previous best by over a minute (21:31). Who says you can't improve with age!
Later in the evening I raised a glass of wine to Ian Connor for all his support and encouragement and his blasted whistle at our Wednesday track workouts!
Way to go Neil. Just wait more successes to come.
Posted by: Jan | June 21, 2009 at 05:20 PM