Time: 32:20
Location: Mojave Narrows
Mission accomplished! This morning I completed my first official 5K. I was nowhere near ready for it, and my time would indicate that, but nonetheless it was an awesome experience. In the two weeks before the race I literally ran only twice -- probably the worst race preparation ever. But an ankle injury and a bad sunburn prevented me from training properly. But none of that mattered when I woke up this morning and had no choice but to head to the race and jump in.
My friend Scott also participated in the 5K. He spent the night last night and this morning, along with my wife, we headed to Mojave Narrows Regional Park in Victorville. I felt pretty good, all things considered. I didn't have any muscle pain or soreness (the stuff that was plaguing me a few weeks back when I was training hard), but I knew that what was going to be a struggle was simply my lack of stamina once the race got going. As 7:30 approached we all lined up and soon enough we were off. The first mile felt fine. My pace was slow, but that was mainly due to the volume of people and the fact that the pathway narrowed making it difficult to get around people. I was able to pass a few people when the opportunity allowed it, but for the most part I had to simply fall in line. Right away I noted the pleasant scenery. To our left was a marshy waterway, and most of the first mile was in the shade of thick trees. At one point we entered a clearing where a bunch of cows were grazing. I had never been to Mojave Narrows so this was a cool experience. Finally after about 1.5 miles the pathway opened up and I was able to break away from the pack a little. This whole time I was passing people about as frequently as people passed me. I knew my pace was slow, but I also knew I wasn't in good shape and I didn't want to kill myself too soon. It was humbling when I would get passed by an older man or a woman, but I had to remember my ankle wasn't 100% and my training took a nose dive the last two weeks. It was humbling but also motivating to get myself more prepared for next time. The one thing that I didn't like about this 5K was it didn't have mile markers. By this point in the race (about 1.5 miles) I had no idea where I was and I thought I had barely covered a mile. I wasn't able to adjust my pace because I had no way to gauge my distance. When I got to about 2 miles I was really starting to struggle. I had run right through the first water station, but when we got to the second one I needed something to give myself a boost, so I grabbed a water and just dumped it on my head. I didn't stop once, and that at least was the one goal I was able to meet. After the second water station came the most challenging part of the race. As we ran around a small lake called Pelican Lake the trail turned into a soft, sandy pathway. It was the most difficult stuff to run in. Every step took twice as much effort with hardly any results. It was like running in place almost. This went on for about a 1/4 mile. At this point in the run (about 2.5 miles) the group had spread out so that I was nearly running alone. There was no way I was going to pass the person way ahead of me, and I had a good enough lead in front of the person behind me that I could relax a little. We finally exited the soft sand and headed for the home stretch, except I didn't know it was the home stretch because, again, no markers. As we finished up the third mile we came upon another picturesque scene. Off to the left was a small river with horses all around, some actually wading through the water. Then I spotted something drinking from the water that didn't look like a horse. As it raised its head I realized it was a llama! It was enough to distract me for a few moments. Finally we got to the point where the 10K runners split from us. Even though I felt like we had only gone about 2 miles, we had really reached the mile 3 marker and there was only a little more to go. Soon I saw the finish line and I went for it. I was able to kick it in, though it was far from a powerful kick. And when I saw my final time of 32:20 I was sorely disappointed. But then I thought about it and realized the circumstances and I got over it pretty quick. It was the slowest I've run 3 miles, but it was also the least prepared I've been for a race. I was 54th out of 79 runners. I felt good when I was done. My wife wanted to watch the kids run (they had a bunch of kids run one mile), so we stayed to see that. Then we departed. I was amped to do another one. My time was so bad that I know there is nothing left to do but improve. Hopefully I'll be able to make this a regular thing. It was a blast today! Despite my slow pace and my horrible time, I enjoyed every minute of it. It's a feeling I'll be seeking again.
No comments:
Post a Comment