Go Figure

What an eventful week of running. I started out Sunday with the half-marathon in Jacksonville Beach, FL. (1:55:24). I did my ususal Tuesday evening workout, doing 5 x 800's at a moderate 4:05 - 4:10, in addition to warm-up and cool down. My quads were still a bit tight from the half-marathon. On Thursday, I went for my scheduled practice only to be rained out after about 1 mile. I had signed up to do a 5K in Winter Park, FL on Saturday morning. I have never run a race in the same week that I have done a half or full marathon. Prior to the 5K, several people from my running group and I did a 4 mile warm-up at about a 10:00 minute per mile pace. Slow and easy. Something else I have never tried. I arrived at the starting line about 5 minutes prior to the race. The temperature was about 66 degrees, humidity was about 90%, but there was a nice breeze. The race started and I felt good as we headed out. I reached mile 1 in 6:50. I reached mile 2 in 13:45. I began to tire as we neared the 3 mile mark. I could tell my pace was slowing a bit. I crossed the finish line with a new PR of 22:03 and a 3rd place finish in may age group (3rd of 20 and 180th of 718 males).

So what does that tell me about my conditioning? If I hadn't run the half-marathon would I have gone faster in the 5K? We'll never know. That's what I like about running, you just never know what's going to happen. Go figure!