Scope it Out 5K

Well, well, well... it seems I've been lacking in the blogging department as of late. I can blame it on the fact I've been a work-a-holic for a flood mitigation study in southwest Louisiana. I have not had a full weekend off in several weeks. However, you know me; I am not known for all work and no play. I have had time to squeeze in fun here and there, but just not gotten around to blogging about it.

I was planning on doing the George Washington Marathon Relay in February. However, I managed to injure my back shortly beforehand. I am not sure exactly what was the culprit, but I do know that it forced me to be laying on my back with a heating pad, drugged up on Tylenol and prescription strength anti-inflammatories for a couple days. I did go out to cheer for the race, but needless to say, I was not in shape to run 500 yards, let alone 7-9 miles.

The first race I was able to in several months was the Scope it Out 5K. The race director is a former Team Z member, who organized the race in memory of her father who passed from colon cancer. It's a nice 5K through downtown Washington D.C. It's also one of the few pure running races my triathlon team participates in.

It has been a while since I have raced a 5K. It can be challenging in the sense that it a half-hour speed workout. And my speed workouts have been lacking lately. I am doing my best to generally stay in shape, but have steered away from "training" for anything specific. And with that, I'll go out for a run, use the elliptical at the gym, go for a swim, or go bike riding, but speedwork has gone by the wayside. (Probably as the weather gets nicer, I'll be more inclined to do some intensive workouts outside.)

Someone inquired on my race expectations. Hmmm.... I said I'd be happy if I broke 28 minutes. My fastest 5K is 23 and some change, whereas my slowest is over 30 minutes. Somewhere in the range of 27-28 minutes is my all time average 5K time.

I went out a little too hard with race enthusiam for the first mile, hitting it at about 7:45 for clock time. Ok... had to back off a little. Once upon a time, that pace was not a problem, but for now... a little too aggressive. Last thing I wanted to do was walk. I decided to be less aggressive for the next mile and a half, and then kick it in for the final half mile.

I especially kicked it in when I saw that I was truly doing to make my arbitrary goal. My official chip time was 27:40. Score! I finished 8th out of 108 people in my age group. Not too shabby!

Now, I would have loved to have celebrated afterwards with everyone at Whitlow's for brunch and bloody maries, but alas... my project for southwest Louisiana was calling....