Does not = 5K!
I did have a decent race the other day, my only goal this fall was to improve my running and see my times drop at each 5K I entered. My speed has suffered greatly between my back injury and knee trouble over the course of the last year and half and I am finally feeling truly healthy again (knock on wood). My overall 5K time did in fact improve each race but I am far from where I would like to be, but am confident with a solid off-season base and some real speed work this spring I should see that continue.
The 2010 Naperville Turkey Trot was a in a word ENORMOUS! 7000 people…. I repeat 7000 people. I remember when that race was 2000 people and even that seemed like a lot. But I guess running has gained in popularity over the past few years and race directors are getting better at motivating the masses off their collective couches. It is only 3.1 miles after all, you could walk it in a negligible amount of time (and people did – that’s why there were 7000 entrants). At least I hope they were walking because they were still finishing as I was leaving, 50-plus minutes into the “race”. They continually announce that you can “Ask for another piece of pie today because you “ran” this 5K.”
Let’s get something straight: I hope our not predicating your mass consumption of all manner of the gelatinous and congealed food groups on a single 3.1 mile run (worse yet a walk). The numbers don’t add up. The amount of calories burned in a 5K can hardly cover an extra sliver of pumpkin pie much less your CostCo sized wedge lovingly smothered with whipped cream and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
The race was self seeded, by this I mean 6 minute mile runners and obviously those with mild senility to the front and all others work their way back accordingly. Needless to say there were a ton of people up at the front this time around and I wasn’t vain enough to think I should be at the lead edge, but many a grandpa was and they were immediately swallowed up my the hoard and spit out the back as the gun went off. I’m not sure if they were trampled, but I tried my hardest not to get any on my shoe.
Here’s a note: If your a passed by 500 hundred pimple faced teenagers who drop 5 minute miles with no warm up, holding a full conversation, running backwards, while juggling, chainsaws (okay – not chainsaws – but that would be cool) you seeded yourself too high! Get to the back back next time Mr.Gebrselassie.
I felt I was seeded appropriately yet still met with traffic in the first few seconds of the race, as evidence by the kid, (Read: teenager – you know your old when teens are now “kids” – let’s be fair and just call him “some punk”) who honestly took himself out by kicking my knee and going down face first. I move left to get around him and his friends and unfortunately for him he moved left as well (I say unfortunately for him because it was good for me to take out some of the competition early). I guess to run three wide with his buddies… in traffic, like no one else was there, aside from the 6500 people behind us. His back foot kicked my knee and he tripped, crashing face first into the pavement. He was OK (I told myself) I wasn’t going to stop and help him up, this is a race, plus when I looked back and saw the masses descending upon him. He was lost… Just let him go.
After that incident the streets started to open up faster guys cruising at the front and everyone else settling into a reasonable pace there after, if by reasonable you mean a minutes per mile faster than they can sustain over the next two miles. It is a 5K after all. It takes years to learn of training and discipline (Read: raw speed) to sustain your first mile speed over the entire course, much less run descending miles. I should figure it out around the time I should no longer seed myself at the front of the race (Read: blue-hair).
I did run a more reasonable race this time out as compared to the previous 5K were my first mile was nearly 30 seconds faster than the next two, and I actually was able to kick out the last portion of race this time as result. I made a mental note of that for the future… (and now the note is summarily forgotten – it’s 5K man just GO!) In the end I had shaved 30 or more seconds off my time from a month ago without any real speed work and my body is feeling better than ever. All signs were looking up, and then the cold struck hard the next morning and reminded me of the long slog till spring yet to come.
The the 5K season for me is over I think, maybe I’ll find another one, but I doubt I’ll be wearing shorts on race day, hopefully no rest-home escapees will be injured in the process.
