Lake Run 2006

Sorry this update is so late!

The LakeRun 5K was Saturday morning. Weather was absolutely perfect, clear and just starting to get warm. There was quite the crowd; apparently over 800 finishers in the 5K alone; it's a popular event!

I ran with Max, and as I posted before, I was hoping for a personal best today. I came so close in my last race and felt I could do as well today.

I kept a steady pace for the first two miles, even through the mild uphill and downhills as we worked our way around the lake, although between the narrow lanes and the crowds of people I did a lot of weaving back and forth. Having to maneuver around folks was hard on my right heel, unfortunately.

Max stayed right with me almost the entire way. He fell behind a bit during the second mile, near the turnaround where the water stand was, but soon caught up to me. He panted at me as he did, "Hullo." Cheeky kid. Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh?

Just past the 2 mile mark, there's a section that's slightly uphill, and then for at least the final half-mile or so it's downhill to the finish line. Ah, I remember this! This is why I was so fast last time. I let myself be pulled down the hill, picking up more and more speed, until I was going about 80% of my full-speed stomp. Again, Max stayed with me, mostly.

We came into sight of the finish line and I gasped my sighting to Max and we continued our headlong plunge down the hill. I was still annoyed at having to dodge so many slower-moving runners. We passed the 3 mile marker and Max kept going. I tried to, but was heaving and gasping for air and had to briefly stop. The Voice in my head, normally so negative, was urging me to run. I had no idea what my time was but didn't want to cost myself a good finishing time by pooping out within sight of the finish. I forced my legs to start moving again and crossed the finish line.

I didn't see Max finish but he was ahead of me. My dad was there, taking pictures, and when he saw me he called out. "What was your time?" he asked.

I had no idea and was exhausted and could hardly speak. "I'm too tired to think right now." I was, however, proud of Max for finishing ahead of me by several seconds.

For a brief few hours I thought my time (unofficially by my watch I showed 30:56 gun time, with about 31 seconds less than that for chip time) was again near my personal best. However, when I checked on it that afternoon, my personal best was 29:37, almost a minute faster.

According to the official results my chip time was 30:27, for a 9:48 pace. Max finished two seconds ahead of me and I believe that's a personal best for him. I'm so proud of him; if I can ever coax him into doing some regular training I think he'd be an awesome runner.