“I just felt like running” Virtual 5k Report

Detroit Runner is hosting a Virtual 5k.  We all know I can’t resist a race, so of course I was in!

I went into this “race” with a few goals.  Speed has been missing from my life lately and I wasn’t sure I could bring it for a virtual race, but I decided to give it a shot.

Goals:
D. Finish the race feeling good.  I’ve been plagued with lead legs lately and I have a cold, so I just wanted to finish happy.
C. Finish with an average pace of 10:00 minute miles. 
B. Finish under 30 minutes.
A. Finish under 29 or even faster without puking.

Short story:  28:50 and no puking.

Long story:
Mile 1: I wanted to run at least 4 miles, so I wasn’t sure if the first mile was going to be a warmup or part of the race.  I started easy, but was pleased when the first mile showed 9:54.  I was having a little trouble breathing and I was hocking loogies in a manner to make a teenage boy proud, but my legs felt great and the first mile felt easy.
Mile 2: I decided to pick it up and see what happened.  Despite some wheezing, I was pleasantly surprised to consistently see 8’s showing up on garmin.  Apparently, when my legs feel good, I don’t need oxygen to run. ;o)  8:53
Mile 3: I wanted to run mile 3 faster than mile 2, so I picked it up a bit more.  Garmin was consistently showing between 8:35-8:40. I was pretty psyched.  It was going to be a great 5k considering the cold and my lack of speed lately.  And it was, right up until 2.8 miles.  Apparently, keeping that pace up a hill with a cold pushed me over the threshold and my body started yelling “Mayday, Mayday! Need oxygen here!”.  I ended up finishing mile 3 in 9:02.
Mile 3.1:  I tried to keep moving, but I’d passed the point of being able to dig deep.  Oops.

Final time: 28:50!  Thanks for the race, Jeff!

After the “race”, I ran a really slow cool down mile and then headed home for our busy day.  I took a quick shower and threw on some clothes and my Vibrams.   After dropping Shoo off at a birthday party, we took Jones to his last soccer game of the indoor season.  His team only had 6 players, so he played the entire game.  They lost by a pretty significant margin, but they played an amazing second half considering how exhausted they were.

I then got to do some intervals in my Vibrams.  Shoo wanted to bike and he’s still on training wheels.  This translates to biking too slowly for me to bike with him, so I ran beside him in my Vibrams (and jeans LOL, thank goodness for spandex in today’s jeans).  So, I got in another mile of running in the Vibrams.  They felt awesome the whole time!

Beer Geek and I then went out to dinner with friends at our favorite place, Mad Fox Brewery.  So, my day was running shoes to Vibrams to high heels.  Every day should go that way.  ;o)