Workout 04/07/2013
Today the Sconzo family ran the Action Karate 5k in Tyler State Park. The weather was just about perfect. It was just a little windy which made it feel cooler than it actually was.
The race started at 9am and there were about 150 competitors. At the start, Matthew ran out in a full-out sprint ahead of me. He held third place for about 600 meters. Once my shin splint numbed up a bit though, I gained on him and tapped him lovingly on the shoulder as I passed him. I was hoping he would keep pace with me and beat me, but the hills were tough on him. Also, he has not been training hard this season, while I have been doing speed workouts.
The first mile was blazing fast, with much downhill. I clocked it in under 6 minutes (about 5:50), but then the inclines came đŸ™‚ I could really feel those hills chewing up my pace, but I kept pushing.
Jeannie started toward the back, with a goal of finishing. This was a really tough course for her. In retrospect she said “If I had known about these hills, I would have sat this one out.” Kudos to her for completing the whole course, with a pretty respectable time considering the difficulty.
Unfortunately, Peter couldn’t run with us, though he was registered to. He needed to stay home and work on his awesome zebra art project. He spent so many hours through the weekend trying to fit in this project that demanded so much focus and dedication. I’m happy to say he finished the project and it looks awesome. Anyway, Matthew’s friend from Fisher Middle School joined us to take Peter’s spot. He finished just ahead of Matthew.
My time was about 20:10. Like I said, the hills were challenging. This put me in third place overall, and first in my age group. The two leaders were almost 2 minutes ahead of me. This is the kind of thing that happens in a new, small race. I wish I could run these all the time đŸ™‚ Matthew finished in about 23 or 24 minutes. The results are not posted at Pretzel City Sports yet. I think Jeannie finished in about 35 minutes.
Matthew placed second in his age group and took home a nice medal, as did I.
Nice race, and the mascot for Action Karate, a shark, chased us at the start of the race. I’ve done other races hosted by Pretzel City Sports, and they do a good job managing them. And that was the case with this one. Very well organized.