I got to the event early, like 6:10, as they said parking was limited at the Stove Works, I got my bib, and went to relax for a bit in my car, and listen to my ipod. Always good to listen to stuff like Motorhead, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Combichrist, Rob Zombie, and White Zombie, to name a few, to get you ready to go. I had mixed up some Vega Sport Performance Optimizer, before I left home, I used about a serving and a half, figured I needed the extra energy, also used two Chocolate Number 9 energy packs, before I started the race. Good thing I used the portapotty before the start, and had about 2 minutes before start, after I was done with that, I knew I should go instead of dealing with that I have to pee feeling for 9.3 miles. I was ready to Just Bring It, at this point, and off we went. The temperature was warm for this time of year, plus very humid, which was another concern I had, not to mention pollen. I was also trying out my Mizuno Wave Musha 3's for the first time in a race, though I have broken them in.
The course was not bad at the start, not very hilly, I was a bit concerned when I hit mile mark 1 and my garmin 405 said I was on a 7:01 pace, didn't want to run out of energy, so I slowed down a little after that. The course took us up by the Masquerade, which was the one really killer hill on the course, though a few of the other hills were challenging as well. Going down Moreland Ave past Little 5 Points was cool as well. I kept a good pace going, only have a few miles over 7:30, which was way better than I was planning. I hit the 10K mark at 45:38, which is 2:20 better than my Peachtree Road Race time from 2010, awww yeah!!! I was still feeling good and not sucking to much wind :>, I downed another Chocolate Number 9, just to be safe. Around 7.5 I started kicking it up a little, at 8 even more, 8.8 I turned it on, and really kicked it in the last .3. Good enough to finish with my time of 1:08:18, felt awesome.
I really worked on my Chi Running forms today too, being very aware of my posture, leaning, landing on my midfoot, and keeping my feet from not landing in front of me. I think this really helped me a lot as well.
I hung around for the award ceremonies, hey you never know, eventhough I have never placed in the top three at any race I've done. I was really shocked when I heard my name for third place in the male 35-39 age group, I was so happy and got my medal, thanked the man who gave it to me. Almost started crying, yeah I was that damn happy!!! Below is a picture of the medal, something I am very proud of.
I am very proud of myself this day, and still on such a high, it is amazing, haven't felt this good ever I think. I have a 10K coming up in a few weeks, last years overall winner did it in 42:05, after today I really feel I could win the whole thing this year. Oh and all on a Vegan Diet too, so don't say a Vegan Diet isn't healthy ok folks :p
Not being able to really run the last 4 months left me a bit down, but not out. I feel revived and ready to take on the world again, though I never lost this mentality. I Bring It everyday of my life, to face the challenges of the world, and everything it throws at me. I know I can overcome anything in life and succeed at everything I want to do. I hope some of you out there can take something from this, share it with others. Freibergs and other things will not keep me down. Freibergs being a condition in the metatarsal bone, where the tissue degenerates, essential causing arthritic pain, I have it in my left second toe, and really don't let it bother me.
I have a lot of training left to do I am really ready to take on the Peachtree this year, I want to do a sub 40 minute Peachtree, and know I can do it, with the right training. Also I am in the NYC Marathon Lottery, and hope to get in through the lottery, which means I only have to raise $500 for the North Shore Animal League, which is who I will run for, a great organization. If I don't get in through the lottery I can still run for them, but will need to raise $2500, which I'd love to do, and much more than that, so obviously I'd be asking for a lot of help doing this. I have a goal time for NYC too, keeping it quiet now, until I see how training goes, hopefully no more setbacks this year. So my road to NYC has begun, and will continue, I will keep a running log here of my training. Below is my splits for todays race, taken from my Garmin Forerunner 405:
Mile 1 7:01
Mile 2 7:26
Mile 3 7:25
Mile 4 7:35
Mile 5 7:20
Mile 6 7:20
Mile 7 7:30
Mile 8 7:32
Mile 9 7:26
Mile 9.3 1:43
