And I Would Run 5,000 Meters...

Workout date: 7/8/15

The Bryn Mawr Midsummer Night 5K Series is a set of 5K races that take place once per month in June, July, and August in the South Ardmore Park.  Each loop is approximately a mile (so 3 loops each race) and the terrain is flat for the most part.  Our Endurance coach, Tim P, always runs these races during the summer and encourages folks from KOP to come out as well.  Last year, I made it to one of the 3 races.  This year, the plan was to make all 3.  That was until I found out that the Mobility Challenge and Brittany's going away dinner would be the same night as the June race.  Yet another plan goes down the tubes.

The second leg of the series was set for Thursday night and I made sure that nothing would keep me from running this time.  Little did I know that Mother Nature was sending a tornado-laden storm through the area, but luckily it held off until about 5 minutes after I finished.  Running in the rain would have been fine, but the wild tsunami that struck us for about 20 minutes post-race would have been crazy to run in.

Possibly the best part about the series is that each race starts at 7:30pm, meaning there's almost no excuse for not being able to get there in time.  I showed up around 7:05 with socks in hand (Jill C. had forgotten to bring some, so I grabbed an extra pair on my way out the door).  Besides Jill, I knew Tim would be running.  Justin and Laura A. had run the first leg in June, but Laura is apparently on vacation, so only Justin would be taking on leg two with us.

As the sky changed from pleasant to apocalyptic, we lined up for the start of the race.  I thought my goal was rather modest.  I hadn't run a 5K since October and having missed Endurance classes all summer, I knew that my cardio wasn't where it was last year.  That being said, it's not like I've completely let myself go either.  I thought a 9 minute pace was possible and that was roughly 28 minutes for the run.  I didn't have a watch on to keep track of my pace, so it was just kind of a go with what feels good type of thing.  The real runners took off and we knew the race had begun.  Justin and Jill were back with me and it took us about 20-25 seconds to reach the start line from when the race actually started.  But the timing chips would sort that out for us.  As we headed out, Justin began to weave through the hordes of people clogging the street.  I knew Justin was very fast and if I managed to keep him in sight up until the first turn, then I had done well.  As for Jill, she showed why she earned the title of AOTM (Awesomerunningbuddy Of The Month).  I told her to go on with Justin as I'm sure she could have kept his pace, but instead she ran alongside me.  We chatted throughout the run and before we knew it, we had completed a mile.  Jill only had a regular watch on and it read 7:40, so we were somewhere in the 9-10 minute range for the first mile.

During the second mile, I once again urged Jill to take off, but she wouldn't.  The fact that I hadn't run more than a mile in 9 months was starting to dawn on me as my breathing was becoming more rapid.  Jill made me earn her companionship as she would ask me a question and then dart around someone in the race.  I guess I could have dropped back and killed the conversation, but that would have been rude.  The second lap is also where all the real runners go screaming by you as they're lapping you.  Didn't even make it a mile and a quarter before that happened.  We kept waiting for Tim to go by us and sure enough, he went blazing by as we got to about a mile and three-quarters.

As we hit the starting area to mark the end of 2 miles, I was hurting.  One more time I implored Jill to go on without me and one more time she told me no.  I was definitely slowing her down.  But at the same time, she was forcing me to hold on to the pace I had kept for 2 miles.  When we neared 2.25 miles, I had begun my Lamaze breathing (huff-huff-huff-BLOW).  I looked over to see that Jill was bouncing along without a care in the world.  She might have just seen a butterfly or something.  Meanwhile, I was seeing my life flash before my eyes, questioning why I had made yet another bad decision.  When we neared 2.5 miles, it began to rain, but it was only light rain.  Jill made note that there was a half-mile left, as if this was my cue to start sprinting or something.  Or that she was going to start sprinting.  The half-mile remaining declaration was more ominous than the impending storm.

One good thing about the last half-mile was that it was mostly downhill.  We were, in fact, picking up the pace, but it was gravity-aided.  As other people began to pick up their pace as well, sensing the end was near (of the race, not the world, although it was 50/50 based on the sky), our competitive side kicked in.  No one wants to get passed at that point in the race.  So as I hyperventilated along, we cruised down the hill back to the park entrance.  As we came up the last road before we made the turn to the finish, we started zig-zagging around people.  We went by the "Mile 3" sign and I tried to kick it into high gear, but that last tenth of a mile sure felt longer than normal.  As we made the final turn into the park and saw the finish line, I got to see a clock for the first time.  And it said exactly 28:00.  Good enough for me.  Jill and I crossed the line together at 28:06, with our chip time being 27:43.  I am extremely grateful that Jill pushed me along even though she could have went a lot faster.  Justin finished with a chip time of 22:59, while Tim finished in 18:33.

Afterwards, my body felt like it was burning up, but then we had Italian Ice, the temperature of which almost sent me into shock.  My body began cooling immediately.  Then the monsoon came and we hung out under a tent for a while as Jill got free swag from the Brooks guy.  She also put in a request to have me do the 6am class the next morning.  After going with Rachel before, I told Jill that I would owe her a 6am class in the future and this was apparently going to be it.  Although we agreed that if it was some crazy Hero WOD or something, we could postpone the 6am visit.

Next blog: Would you like to do Fight Gone Bad?  How about doing it twice in a row?  At 6am.  Would that be something you'd be interested in?