Good afternoon all – happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day! Love you Daddy!
How is your father’s day going? Mine started bright and early this morning with a race in Central Park – The Father’s Day Prostate Cancer 5-mile Run. The last time I ran a 5-mile race was in early January and the race conditioners were 100% different than today. The race started at 8:30 a.m. and in all honesty, I wish it had started a lot earlier. The heat and humidity were intolerable! Here was my race-day appearance.
It was already 80 degrees by the time I headed out of the house. I jogged to the start, hit the porta-potty and found my corral. As I stood in the corral waiting for the start, I began to think that this wasn’t going to be my best race. And I was right.
The race began and already I felt like I was struggling. We headed north along the West Drive and man did that first mile take forever. I kept checking my Garmin and being amazed by how little I had run. We hit the first mile marker and I managed to pick it up a bit from mile 1 to mile 2, but it hurt.
I struggled up all the hills and my breathing was a lot more labored than usual. Plus, choosing to wear a hat to shield my eyes also ended up making me hotter, I think. As we reached the third mile marker I hit up the fluid station for a much-needed guzzle of water.
From mile three to mile four I struggled again and watched the mileage slowly tick by on my watch. Finally we hit mile four and I knew there was only one to go, but man was I feeling it. The heat, the humidity, the crowd – it was all taking its toll.
Finally I spotted the finish area up ahead, but it was really a struggle to get to the end. I did not kick it in like usual – I basically threw myself over the finish in pure exhaustion. Here are my stats:
Mile 1 – 7:59
Mile 2 – 7:40
Mile 3 – 8:07
Mile 4 – 7:59
Mile 5 – 7:58
Total mileage: 5.06 miles in 40:12
So technically, this was a PR for me at this distance, but I ran the 10k in April much, much faster – so I’m not totally satisfied with these results. However, I have no one to blame by myself. Since the Pocono Marathon in May, I’ve enjoyed quite a running hiatus, so I am not in great shape right now. I’ve got some major work to do before the Boilermaker 15k in July.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!
Eat, Read, Run 