I managed to get a nice little spot in the elite tent and even had the low bib of # 12. A cruel joke but funny non the less. We hung out here before embarking on a 3m warmup which actually felt like a quick training run...of course those guys ran under 24:30 so that should give you the level that i was jogging around with. To the start and I was astounded by all the adidas adizero product seen on the other competitors. How do i have to beg and plead to get this stuff placed in stores then manage to see probably over half the elite(no, not real elites...other schmo's like me as well) field wearing this?
The 1st mile was passed in 5:30 and I was so far back it was insane. I thought i would be top 50 or so but I was closer to 300th at this point. Very humbling and a tad embarrassing. I kept on running in what felt like an easy tempo but i knew i couldnt go much faster and the next mile passed in 5:35 so I started to think that maybe I would run 27:30 which would have exceeded my goal by about 45seconds. After the duece we turned into the wind a few times and had a few tiny uphills that got us to the 3m in 16:46(5:40) so i was gradually starting to slow up but still passing people in droves. 4m was reached in 5:38( 22:26) and at this point I was just running to finish it up. Its still an odd feeling to try to dig down then have all the thoughts come into your head that you are running 3:30 slower than what you used to....being passed by kids wearing scottie pippen jerseys....whats the point? The last 600m were pretty rough as you go uphill into the teeth of a 20mph wind then have 300m to the finish. The final "kick" wasnt much more than a strider but I picked off a few people and almost caught Sara Slattery...how the mighty have fallen. The last mile was covered in 5:38 which gave me the grad total of 28:05 for the 5miles. I guess I'm pleased since that was my five fastest miles since 2004(tear rolls down my face) and I still have not done much other than so minor fartleks and easy running. Until I'm down under 27:00 I wont consider myself being competitve or even close to being successful in this half assed comeback though.
The rest of the day was spent drinking whiskey, eating breakfast quesadillas, drinking pbr's and eating burgers. Classy. Oh yeah....there was also an incident with a roller derby girl that may or may not make it into a future installment of the blog. I'm still trying to suss out what happened.
I leave you with this:
No comments:
Post a Comment