Sunday, August 31, 2008

My first 10K (almost a KO)

I ran my first 10K this weekend In Buffalo Grove. Illinois that is, in case you weren't sure. I had trouble sleeping, I think I was nervous. I had trouble going to sleep and I woke up frequently. I think I was afraid of over-sleeping and being rushed in the morning. I don't trust my alarm. I have had problems with me hitting the button to turn it off in my sleep, and it is 15 years old. What is the life expectancy of a clock radio anyway? Three years?

I did get up on time (6:00!) and I had my breakfast of a banana and cinnamon toast with peanut butter on top. (What? That doesn't sound good? It is, trust me.) I was out the door by 6:40 with all my accessories in hand. I went by myself since Jenn was sleeping in, she had her own race tonight. Right now actually. I wonder how it is going?

Since I left early I had an hour to kill at the race site. Last year there was nowhere to park so I figured I'd be looking for a spot for 10 or 15 minutes then have to walk another 15 minutes to get the the starting line. Instead I parked 100 feet from the starting line. I guess that is good, but what was I going to do for an hour? Walk around a lot, it turns out.

One thing I found out, I'm too slow for the setup they have. There are three races; a 10K run, a 5K run and a 5K walk. They stagger the start times but when you are slow, like me, you end up meeting the walkers at the end. I did a lot of bobbing and weaving to get to the finish line.

Before I got to the end though, I had to run the 6.2 miles. Unfortunately, that is farther than I have ever run. I've run 5 miles a couple of times, but that was it. Oh, and the last two weeks I didn't run much. Mostly because I was a little under the weather, partly because I was lazy. So, yeah, it was a little rough to get the distance done.

I tried to start off slow, but as usual, I started off too fast. I was making a mental note to try and slow down, and it worked, for the most part. One thing I do often is find someone running about my speed and keep them in sight. I don't run next to them, that is kind of rude, but I stay a few paces behind them and match their speed. Today there was a man, close to my age, running with his daughter who was maybe 9 or 10 years old. I figured they would be perfect to follow. It worked well until the last 1.5 miles. I got too tired and too hot and had to walk a bit. I never saw them again. I wanted to feel bad about being beat by a 10 year old kid, but then I remembered they are made of energy. It was never a fair battle.

The good news? I wasn't last. I think there were six or seven people behind me. Hey, that's something!

Now I have a 9.5 mile race in two weeks. I'm dead.

How is your holiday weekend?

8 comments:

Carly said...

fHi Mike :)

Congratulations on the race! I have never joined a marathon, and I am afraid at this point the opportunity may very well behind me, so it is fun for me to hear about your adventures! :) Good luck on the races coming up!

I hope you and your family have a great holiday!

Always, Carly

Florinda said...

I've done that same thing - had trouble staying asleep because I'm afraid I'll oversleep, that is. NOT running a 10K. Never have, probably never would. Running is not my thing.

Glad you made it, though...it's not where you finish, it's that you do finish, period. Congratulations, and hope Jenn's race went well too!

Mike said...

Carly: Thanks! If I remember correctly you are only a few years older than me. That's not too old at all. There were plenty of people in their 60's who beat me. Have a good holiday.

Florinda: You should try it. It's fun! There are a lot of fun races out your way! Enjoy your extra day off!

bluegame said...

GREAT JOB! HOE DID MY JENN DO??? NO CALL BACK... I AM CLOSING TONUIGHT CALL AND GIVE ME UODATE... YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU DID!!! I AM PROUD OF YOU! I AM NT DOING WELL IN THE TRAINING FRONT AT ALL.

Anonymous said...

Hey, your goal was to "Finish a 10K. Period." and you did. Think of it as a training run for the 9.5 miler. Congratulations.

Mike said...

Lori; Thanks. Jenn did fine, but her ankle was hurting.

Unfocused; Thanks! Yeah, I got one of my goals down. I'm a tad conceded about the 9.5 miler. We'll see how it goes. I just need to be sure to take it slow.

Anonymous said...

I stayed in extra hour at the gym on Sunday. That was my accomplishment this weekend.

Congrats on finishing the race!

Mike said...

DC: That's good. I need to go to my gym soon. I take it you didn't get your internet fixed yet. I would have spent the whole week working on that. I would have failed and end up breaking something else probably. :)