First Race

Wanting to do a 5K race before my Half Marathon I searched our area for one that would be close to home and would be considered a smaller race. I did not want to race with hundreds of other people in this race that would be my first in about 7 years. I felt running in a smaller race would allow me just to run at my own pace or race my own race without getting caught up with the big crowd.

I found one just a couple weeks out that was close to home (Standown House 254th Transportation Battalion 5k Run/Walk) and the money went towards a cause I was for. I signed up on line and was committed and I had already signed up for the Half Marathon

At this point I have really done no speed work, maybe just some faster tempo mixed in with my regular runs and a couple days running the bridge on the Half Marathon course. My longest run was 8 miles. The half marathon was 4 weeks out from here and I planned to do at least one 10 mile run before then. So in reality this 5K would be a speed workout for me. So the bottom line is I had four weeks till half marathon and two weeks till the 5K.

A couple days before the 5K my right knee started to hurt, felt like it was just below the knee cap area, my first injury since I started running in December. Great, my first race in a couple days and this happens. Well I did not run at all till the morning of the race. I got up extra early and did an easy test run to see how it felt and it appeared to be OK.

So what the heck, I went to the race with the thought that I’ll start the run and if it hurt I’d just stop. I lined up at the back of the group at the starting line so I would not be caught up in the initial rush and go out too fast. Ran slow and the knee felt fine so I gradually speed up at each mile and finished with a time of 24:13 if I remember correctly. That was much better than I anticipated. I actually got 3^rd place in the Grandmaster Division.

 

Looking back I could have finished faster but this was a test race and I did not want to push it, especially worrying about my knee. For someone looking for a PR in a 5K this course would be great. It’s flat and easy to run.