Music in Motion 5K

Race: Music in Motion 5K
Goal: Use as a speed workout and hopefully better my 2008 5K summer
time of 24:27.

This was the first time I've run this race. I've wanted to run it the
past 2 yrs. but I was always so close to harboring an injury at this
stage of the season training for the Chicago marathon.

It was an out and back course with a long gradual incline
(shhhhhh...don't say HILL) somewhat before the turnaround. There's a
story on this. My running friend and I both looked at the map online
and thought the turnaround was just after the incline. Boy, were we
wrong. We get to the top of it and realize we still have more to go
before we can turnaround and come back down.

I felt pretty good the first mile considering I didn't go to bed until
after midnight, had no warmup running and only stretched a tad. Oh,
did I mention that it was pouring down rain as we stood there at the
start listening to the National Anthem. We were all just standing
there laughing, feeling like little kids on a rainy summer day, waiting
for the song to end so we could start torchering ourselves.

First mile was right on cue.....7:50....right on the money for me. Got
into a nice, comfortable, yet taxing breathing pattern. Started to
gradually pass some people, yet I just couldn't seem to reel in this
one woman that stayed about 20 ft. ahead of me the whole time.
Hmmmm...I wonder if she's in my age bracket?(40-44). Never
mind....just run your own race Weebs!!

After staying pretty composed on the "incline", got to the turnaround
and headed for the finish. After getting back to the bottom, at the 2
mile marker they yelled 16:00 even. Oops....kinda slowed way down
there...time to step it up a notch.

This is where it got ugly. It seems that sometimes when I run a race
with a downhill, my breathing pattern must change enough that I get a
sidestitch from hell. I felt it coming on between a 1/2 mile and 3/4
mile to go. I tried to concentrate more on my breathing as I reeled
more people in. I was getting closer and closer to the "woman" ahead
of me and was about 3 ft. behind her when out of the blue, Brian(a
fellow runner I know) came up to the "woman" and started pumping her up
saying you're gonna reach your goal...come on you can do it. All the
while I'm thinking...I'm not gonna make it...I'm gonna puke....this
knife in my side is gonna kill me!! ACCKK! I just can NOT catch
her...and it's pissing me off! I got a tenth of a mile away from the
turn to the finish line and I SERIOUSLY wanted to walk. I thought, why
the HELL amd I doing this? My goal at this point was to NOT
stop....forget the girl in front on me!

Btw, not only did she finish 4 seconds ahead of me, she pr'd by 2
minutes from her previous 5K AND she was in my age group. Yeah, nice
huh? lol

My official time was 24:30, not my best but pretty much average for
me. Got 2nd in my age group....yes...she got first. I talked to her
after the race and congratulated her(yes, I'm competitive, but I was
polite and kept my hands in my pockets all the while envisioning
yanking on her hair and beating the crap out of her) while smiling.
Just kidding on that last part....kinda! ;-) Brian apologized to me
and said he knew the other "woman" and I were in the same age group,
but she was his running partner and he had to ride home with her!! lol

My running friend, Jocelyn, finished in 22:47, average for her but 1st
in her AG(25-29).

The male overall finished in a new course record of 15:20!!! The
female overall finished in a new course PR of 1 second, 19:29.

I was told this is a pretty competitive race and draws fast ones from
towns further away, which showed by the first place male finish!
Geez, 15:20???? That's rockin' fast!

After the race we went out for breakfast, got groceries, and then went
home to take a nap.

Weebs

Here I go again!

I'm getting the itch to do a longer mileage race again. So I've chosen a half marathon locally on Sept. 28th. My official training started yesterday with intervals at the track. Temp. was 84 degrees at 6:00 p.m. Why, oh why, didn't I get myself out of bed early in the morning to do my run. Oh, that's right....it was Monday and I drag myself out of bed on Monday mornings.

Getting up early is highly overrated when one has the day off from work and can sleep in until.....say......9:00 a.m.? Ackkkk! Talk about most of the day already gone.

Okay, so I am motivated and dedicated(borrowing from the U.S. Marines) to follow my training schedule. I really need to start working on my speed.

Next up I will start looking at another marathon for next year. Maybe one in the spring this time. Training should be interesting to say the least the way our Midwest winters have been.

Almost without pain

I can say that as of today, I hardly have any pain from my cracked ribs when I run. It's been almost 4 weeks since the accident so it's coming along well.

I have succumbed to running every other day. The other days I walk. It just takes alot more stress off me. Sometimes if I run every day my body starts to rebel. I can tell I'm running more again because my appetite has picked up once again. Damn, where did I put the lock for the frig?

Now it's time to start picking up the mileage.

Haopy St. Patrick's Day!!!

So some people say St. Patrick's Day is a day to celebrate saints. I say it's a day to celebrate beer.....green beer that is. I actually had my quota of beer on Saturday night. I won a door prize too, but it was only stationery. I guess I'll have to snail mail more of my friends.

The older I get, the bigger it seems that St. Pat's Day becomes. It's almost like I notice more and more people celebrating it.

I'm gonna celebrate the rest of it by taking a pain pill and getting some sleep. The rib is kinda sore today. I think I did too much. Too much lifting of things around the house yesterday and a busy day at work. I couldn't even get myself to run tonight after work.

Gotta start feeling better. It's like two steps forward, one step back.

Back in the saddle again!

Okay, so I'm happy about running again albeit ever so slowly. I still have to stop and walk a little if my ribs start to hurt too much but at least I'm able to run.

I'm keeping my mileage low(3-4) miles/daily just to get exercise. I'm sure I'm making myself slower, but I don't think it can be helped.

There is a local 5K next Friday. Don't think I'm gonna be able to make it. Oh well! This is just not a good time to be laid up.

Well, I'm off to a St. Patty's Day bash. It should be a long and eventful night starting off with corned beef and cabbage and all the spirits you want to drink. Get this....it's put on by the local Catholic church. We went last year and I felt so out of place drinking in the basement of a church. After about the second beer I'm like, "Oh well....cheers!" We also win door prizes as well.

Oh and I won a door prize of a goatee trimmer last weekend. So Geo has another one for the downstairs bathroom. Funny thing is....when I heard the prize, before they even called my name I said, "Oh God, that's probably something I'll win!" And sure enough my friends were about rolling on the floor after they called my name. Too funny!

I hope everyone has a good St. Pat's Day.

Ouch!

Still hurting in the ribcage area. Got to laughing with some friends last night and ended up in a coughing fit that sent me over the edge. Damn, it hurts to inhale now.

On a side note, I found an old picture of me when I was a lifeguard. Cracks me up to see it now. No wonder they called me "Omar's sister"(the only black kid at the campground).

Bad news and more bad news!

Yesterday morning I found out that one of my old family friends committed suicide by hanging himself in his parent's garage. He is my oldest brother's age, 49, and no one can figure out why he went back to his parent's to do it. He's married with two older girls and left a note for both his family and his parents not blaming them for anything and apoligizing in advance. Never in a million years would I have thought He'd do this.

And on top of that his mom has cancer and is going through some experimental treatment not approved yet. They originally had not expected her to live past Christmas.

Then last night I tripped over a low chain in a dark parking lot and landed on my side, shoulder and head. The head is doing better than the ribs right now, but going to see the doc this afternoon to get some xrays.

Another try!

Okay, since it's been forever since I posted a blog, I figured I'd better get to it and get busy. The main reason is because I couldn't remember my signin and password and didn't want to start a new acct. The other reason was just plain busy.

We're going to be getting into the running season again so that's something to look forward to. I was scheduled to run a 5K race tomorrow, but it was canceled due to the streets being covered with thick ice. I was looking forward to seeing my running friends since I haven't run with them all winter, but it looks like we may be trying to get together tomorrow night anyway just for fun.

I'll try to be more active in responding to my friend's blogs to...Dani, Kelley, Kathy(doesn't look like she's too active either, lol), Leslie and Trizilla.

Peace out!