Yes, the "Dinner with Tri" road tour continues to be a
really fun experience! Had a great time enjoying dinner with
@-OZ- last night ...could easily have kept drinking some excellent stouts and conversing through the night, but he had a family to tend to and I needed to rest up for:
David McKannon Memorial 5K Race, Huntsville, AL
22:34 (7:10/mi) ...1st in super-small AG and 6th overall (out of about 80)
It's the weekend, so there had to be a race in town, right? 7:00 a.m. start, so was up around 5:00 a.m. to get things moving and drive twenty minutes to the location south of town. Definitely a small race as it was even manually timed. Did a couple mile warm-up, tried to cool down in the morning heat/humidity, then lined up for the start.
Mile 1. 7:01 ...HR 157
I took over strong and felt quite good. I saw a sub-7:00 avg page halfway through the mile and figured I probably would not sustain that, given the lack of high-end training and coming off a HM just a week ago. The small crowd had quickly spread out, and I was running 8th.
Mile 2: 7:22 ...HR 169
It was clear that I wasn't holding a strong stride, so I just focused on cruising steady. One guy passed me early the mile; soon after, I passed another guy who had stopped to walk. I saw the HR was hanging in the high 160s, which is to be expected for a 5K.
Mile 3: 7:12 ...HR 175
We made a far turn just before the mile mark, so this mile was all heading back home. I mentally broke it down into four sections and focused on clicking through each one. The stride was starting to click again, so early in the mile I passed a guy and the #1 female. I didn't happen to check the HR, but mid-170s makes sense as this mile was taking more effort.
.15 mile: 6:10/mi ...HR178
Kind of a weaving, slightly up-grade finish, but I opened things up and pushed home strong with big gaps between the runners ahead and behind me.
So nice to get out and race a 5K. I clearly have some work to do to improve the legs, but that's my summer/fall goal. Afterwards, had some good conversations with some of the other local racers. No race medals!
Just a discount coupon for a local Fleet Feet. I'll stop by on the way out of town and maybe use the discount for a new pair of shoes that I'll need at some point in coming months.