PR at the Park Ridge Charity Classic 5K (22:00.84)

Park Ridge Charity Classic 5K

Time: 22:00.84
Overall: 154
Sex Group Finish Place: 121
Age Group Finish Place: 23
Per Mile: 7:06

Mile 1 - 6:39
Miles 2-3.1 - 7:18-7:19?

Don't about my other miles, except that I must have averaged 7:18-7:19/mile.

Not a 21:00, but a PR just the same. Knocked :31 off my time. I crashed and burned, but did not meet my goal. My feelings are mixed. I had a PR, so that is good. A real one too, a full 31 seconds. Where I am disappointed is, like the Glen Ellyn St. Pet's Run, I choked in the second mile.

I started on my intended pace, looking to be 6:30-6:40. No complaints there. However, I felt horribly, unusually tired. Never saw the two mile mark. I made the turn-around at 12:00, but that was not a true halfway.

Picked it up near the end, with a brief 50 meter kick.

Race day, today, started with being late out the door, unable to find a bandana. Then, I missed the turn onto Touhy, and had a hard time getting there. Normally, my sense of direction is good, but this time, it led me astray. I had just 15-20 minutes to sign-up, warm-up, and stand at the line.

Last week, I ran twice - Tuesday, an LSD 4.8 miler, and Thursday, the JSRC track workout. Felt dragged all week. Should have run yesterday, but did not feel well, and life's tasks kept me busier than expected at the times I might have run.

Rudi was there, ran well, in the mid-18s. He told me, but I can't recall his time. Another Jim Spivey Running Club runner passed me at around the two mile mark, but I did not recognize him... just his blue singlet. Met a guy named Manual with whom I chatted old running stories with - he graduated from Thornwood a few years before me and new people my brother knew.

I haven't picked my next race yet. In the interim, I need to shake this one off, get back on the trails, and put in some miles. I don't know what I really need to do, but I think, althought I've been at this since May, there is still a fitess component slowing me down. Lose weight, do some LSD, some tempo work, and start thinking about how I'll handle the next few months.