Cantigny 5K (11/4/23)
22:36 (7:13/mi), 1st in AG
Did I wear magic shoes while running this race? No.
I don't know what happened to those shoes! It's possible, though not likely, I left them in a shopping mall parking lot after a really difficult HM fourteen months ago. But I always stored the shoes in the distinctive Nike box ...and I don't know what happened to that box, either. I wouldn't have randomly thrown out that box when moving about a year ago. So both the shoes and the box are unaccounted for. Not the end of the world, as the shoes were approaching 200 miles. But ...weird.
Did I have pneumonia while running this race? Apparently, yes?
I had wheezing/crackling in the chest and a tight cough for a couple of weeks. I went to immediate care this past week (after the race), and they were talking pneumonia, though they didn't do an x-ray. So not positive of the diagnosis, but I was quite sick on race day. I generally coughed my way around the course. This past week started very miserably and I ended up taking the full week off from running. Starting to feel close to normal now.
I had done this race last year with
@Juxtatarot in lousy conditions (strong, harsh, cold wind). While neither of us liked the course, which is mostly on the paths of a golf course, I decided to go back again. I've had a great training year, but it's all been a tweener - not quite enough long runs (15-18 miles) and long tempos that I'd like for a HM, but not enough speed work to properly support a 5K. It's more just pushing elevation and building the base for 2024 and beyond. In terms of picking a race, I had to work around some XC meets for my university as well as an upcoming family wedding weekend.
Morning routines were all fine. The race was a later start, so I was able to comfortably arrive (15 minutes from home) about an hour before the start. Got checked in, including getting the race shirt with a misspelling, and went for a warm-up.
Mile 1 (6:59): This was just a little below what I wanted for the first mile. I started near the front, but right at the start the course swings a big U around the parking lot before cutting onto a paved trail. And that's the problem with the whole course - it's just so hard to settle into a smooth rhythm and good stride due to the twists and turns and little ups and downs. We had a bit of downhill near the end of the mile, and as I did throughout the race, when I had some downslope, I tried to push it.
Mile 2 (7:20): The mile was pretty much all on cart paths running alongside a few of the golf course holes. To pass the time and not think negatively, I used a counting system that I'd first used on the Boston hills. On each left stride, '
1 2 3 4,
1 (2 3 4);
2 2 3 4,
2 (2 3 4)..."
But it works for me to keep my mind just a little distracted from other thoughts. I started a new sequence as we passed the tee of each new golf hole, and generally refocused and reassessed before each one. Not a lot of turns through here, but not really straight, either. The mile time was somewhat disappointing, as I knew I wouldn't be able to push a sub-7:00 pace for the race (A goal) and it made a sub-22:00 effort unlikely as well (B goal).
Mile 3 (7:17): This mile
did have a lot of twists and turns and little ups and downs. I kept pushing, especially on the downslopes and felt that I did what I could with the course. The mile ends with a near-180 turn and then a pretty good upslope.
Final .1 (7:21): Three ninety degree turns and a curb step-off in the final stretch!
All in all, much better than last year's fiasco, and still an AG win (by about fifty seconds). And ultimately a good effort given my health. I'll start back up running today and see what I've lost ...lotta yellow'ish pee earlier this week tells me my muscles were breaking down due to the illness. Hopefully things come back quickly so I can do a productive Turkey Trot with the Juxt's.
sickness is going around here big time. I thought it was the flu and COVIDupdate I got this weekend but my 18yo is sick too and he didn’t get either. Wife is mildly sick after her flu shot, but she didn’t get the COVID update. 
Good memory! Not the same park, but it's in the same hills -about 5 miles west of there. It's bone dry right now, but a front is coming through Friday so we'll see how much rain we get. Even if it is consequential there's only a couple areas in the low lying area I'm worried about and I'll scout them during warmup.
