Running With the Gazelles
This morning I ran my first ever 5K. Didn't know what to expect, either.
You see, I'm a Badger. And Badgers are low-slung waddlers. Not much in the long-legged running department, so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.
I lined up a few rows from the front, hoping for a new PR (that's a personal record, ma) and set my sights for a 24:00. That meant that I needed to be at the first mile by 7:45. The whistle blew and we were off. It was pretty cold and windy, but the adrenaline was flowing and I started passing folks. I managed to slip into a groove with about 20 folks in front of me and when I looked at my HR monitor, I was already at lactate threshold. I thought, "well, we'll see how far you can hold this," and just buried it. At the one mile mark I was at seven minutes. I couldn't believe it. I was smiling! I was actually SMILING while RUNNING (for the longest time I've thought of those two things as being mutually exclusive - one does not usually smile while getting flogged!).
Long story short: I busted a PR, coming in 22:36, which put me 2nd place in my age group and in the top 20 out of over 400 runners that started the race. Needless to say, I was VERY happy. Especially when I saw that the winner of my age group ran a sub-20 minute and there was NO WAY IN HELL I would've caught him even if I'd tried!
So I celebrated by going to my local burger joint and having a double bacon burger with a fry/onion ring combo! BURP! I felt bloated, but went to the pool and put in 1800 Meters before I called it a day.
And what a day it was. I might not be an antelope, deer, or graceful gazelle, but I'm a pretty quick badger.
And that's okay with me.
Train smart, race hard, and keep it positive!
Jeffrey
You see, I'm a Badger. And Badgers are low-slung waddlers. Not much in the long-legged running department, so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.
I lined up a few rows from the front, hoping for a new PR (that's a personal record, ma) and set my sights for a 24:00. That meant that I needed to be at the first mile by 7:45. The whistle blew and we were off. It was pretty cold and windy, but the adrenaline was flowing and I started passing folks. I managed to slip into a groove with about 20 folks in front of me and when I looked at my HR monitor, I was already at lactate threshold. I thought, "well, we'll see how far you can hold this," and just buried it. At the one mile mark I was at seven minutes. I couldn't believe it. I was smiling! I was actually SMILING while RUNNING (for the longest time I've thought of those two things as being mutually exclusive - one does not usually smile while getting flogged!).
Long story short: I busted a PR, coming in 22:36, which put me 2nd place in my age group and in the top 20 out of over 400 runners that started the race. Needless to say, I was VERY happy. Especially when I saw that the winner of my age group ran a sub-20 minute and there was NO WAY IN HELL I would've caught him even if I'd tried!
So I celebrated by going to my local burger joint and having a double bacon burger with a fry/onion ring combo! BURP! I felt bloated, but went to the pool and put in 1800 Meters before I called it a day.
And what a day it was. I might not be an antelope, deer, or graceful gazelle, but I'm a pretty quick badger.
And that's okay with me.
Train smart, race hard, and keep it positive!
Jeffrey
posted by Jeffrey at
4:42 PM
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