L'Chaim 5K Run for Israel
Um, I ran a race today.
I wasn't planning on it, but my roommate told me about it last night, and was interested in going. He's not a runner, but a few of our friends were going, and he thought it would be fun. Once he said he was going, I jumped in as well.
The truth is I'd already run 6 miles with Akiva yesterday. It was the most I'd run since I hurt my ankle, and the fastest too (9:15 miles). So I figured I'd run this relatively slow.
Of course, once I was racing that went out the window. Sort of. The horn (actually a shofar) was blown, and most people took off at full speed - as if they were running the 100 meter dash. I tried to stick to my usual slow pace, but it was hard to pace myself in this setting. By a half a mile in I was passing a lot of people. I ended up running the first mile in 7:54 according to the volunteer on the course.
The temperature was about 80 degrees, and the course was pretty hilly. It was definitely tough out there. All those people that had started fast were dropping like flies. I was reeling them in one by one. Mile 2 went by in 7:58 (according to the volunteer again).
Over the final mile, I could see a friend of mine about 20 seconds ahead of me. I'd actually been watching him the whole race, but now I started trying to catch him. I was passing everyone else, but could not make any progress on him. I later found out that he was racing another friend, and they were really dueling at the end. They both ended up finishing up about a minute ahead of me - separated by 0.3 seconds!
So even though I couldn't catch him I did pass a few more people in the last tenth of a mile. There was one more guy I wanted to catch, but he was looking back at me, and stayed out of reach. He ended up finishing 8 seconds ahead of me. Mile 3 was went by in 7:30, with 0:47 for the last segment.
My final time according to the timekeepers (no shoe chip) was 24:11.9 for a 7:48 mile. Not a PR, but given that I haven't really been running fast in 5 weeks, and that it was hilly, and that it was 80 degrees - I'm pretty happy with that.
As it turned out I was 29th overall, out of 364 people. In my age group I was 4th. The guy that I couldn't catch was in my age group, and he got a trophy for 3rd place. Arg! I congratulated him, and he recognized me as "the guy he beat out". He was a nice guy. It turns out we're both moving up to the 35-39 group next year, so maybe they'll be a re-match next year. (We would have been 1 and 2 in that division.)
I'm scheduled to run a NYRR event next week. It's a 4 miler in the park. I'll probably take a couple of days off now to rest up after this weekend.
As for my ankle, it really doesn't hurt to walk or even run. I'm still wearing an insole in my shoe, so it felt weird as I was walking around before the race. But during the race, I didn't feel it. I still have pain when I move my ankle in certain directions, so it's not fully healed. I'm a little nervous, but still hopeful that it will heal completely in the next few weeks. (It's already been five weeks!!) I'm going to physical therapy twice a week, but that's mostly to prevent future recurrences. I'm working on stretching out my calves, strengthening my ankle stabilizers, and working on my balance. It's actually pretty interesting, and I think it's going to help in the long run.
One other piece of news. Some of you may remember that at the end of my Coogan's post I pledged to run 1,000 kilometers this year. (The "mini-Tinkoff 1000"). This race puts me over 500K for the year. (See updated results in the sidebar.) So even with the injury, I'm still well on track.
Hope you all had a nice weekend.
I wasn't planning on it, but my roommate told me about it last night, and was interested in going. He's not a runner, but a few of our friends were going, and he thought it would be fun. Once he said he was going, I jumped in as well.
The truth is I'd already run 6 miles with Akiva yesterday. It was the most I'd run since I hurt my ankle, and the fastest too (9:15 miles). So I figured I'd run this relatively slow.
Of course, once I was racing that went out the window. Sort of. The horn (actually a shofar) was blown, and most people took off at full speed - as if they were running the 100 meter dash. I tried to stick to my usual slow pace, but it was hard to pace myself in this setting. By a half a mile in I was passing a lot of people. I ended up running the first mile in 7:54 according to the volunteer on the course.
The temperature was about 80 degrees, and the course was pretty hilly. It was definitely tough out there. All those people that had started fast were dropping like flies. I was reeling them in one by one. Mile 2 went by in 7:58 (according to the volunteer again).
Over the final mile, I could see a friend of mine about 20 seconds ahead of me. I'd actually been watching him the whole race, but now I started trying to catch him. I was passing everyone else, but could not make any progress on him. I later found out that he was racing another friend, and they were really dueling at the end. They both ended up finishing up about a minute ahead of me - separated by 0.3 seconds!
So even though I couldn't catch him I did pass a few more people in the last tenth of a mile. There was one more guy I wanted to catch, but he was looking back at me, and stayed out of reach. He ended up finishing 8 seconds ahead of me. Mile 3 was went by in 7:30, with 0:47 for the last segment.
My final time according to the timekeepers (no shoe chip) was 24:11.9 for a 7:48 mile. Not a PR, but given that I haven't really been running fast in 5 weeks, and that it was hilly, and that it was 80 degrees - I'm pretty happy with that.
As it turned out I was 29th overall, out of 364 people. In my age group I was 4th. The guy that I couldn't catch was in my age group, and he got a trophy for 3rd place. Arg! I congratulated him, and he recognized me as "the guy he beat out". He was a nice guy. It turns out we're both moving up to the 35-39 group next year, so maybe they'll be a re-match next year. (We would have been 1 and 2 in that division.)
I'm scheduled to run a NYRR event next week. It's a 4 miler in the park. I'll probably take a couple of days off now to rest up after this weekend.
As for my ankle, it really doesn't hurt to walk or even run. I'm still wearing an insole in my shoe, so it felt weird as I was walking around before the race. But during the race, I didn't feel it. I still have pain when I move my ankle in certain directions, so it's not fully healed. I'm a little nervous, but still hopeful that it will heal completely in the next few weeks. (It's already been five weeks!!) I'm going to physical therapy twice a week, but that's mostly to prevent future recurrences. I'm working on stretching out my calves, strengthening my ankle stabilizers, and working on my balance. It's actually pretty interesting, and I think it's going to help in the long run.
One other piece of news. Some of you may remember that at the end of my Coogan's post I pledged to run 1,000 kilometers this year. (The "mini-Tinkoff 1000"). This race puts me over 500K for the year. (See updated results in the sidebar.) So even with the injury, I'm still well on track.
Hope you all had a nice weekend.
posted by Danny on Monday, May 28, 2007
2 Comments:
Nice effort out there. I'm especially glad to see that the ankle is holding up well.
Sometimes I think racing, when well rested, is a really good policy.
aiyee...was this publicised in some YU mailing list? completely missed it.
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