On a recent (very cold) morning, Linda and I helped raise money for our high school marching band (the Rompin’ Stompin’ Raider Marching Band) by participating in their 4th annual 5K run. The marching band is near and dear to our heart, considering both of our daughters are connected with the band. When given the choice to sell popcorn, candy, wrapping paper, or run a 5K – it’s a pretty obvious choice which one we’d rather do.
This was the first time that I had registered for a 5K run. The 5K is a great race for runners – usually completed around 30 minutes. However, my first race was the half-marathon that I did in May 2014 and the only other race was a 4-mile run on July 4, 2015. When I do my regular runs, I will always run at least 5K (or 3.1 miles).
I usually run my regular runs around 10:00/mile , which is a comfortable pace. But, I had made the decision to try to run the 5K race at a faster pace. I tried to keep up with a couple of people that were in front of me for the first mile, but they were obviously running a bit faster than the pace that I could keep beyond the first mile. I settled in to a pace around 180 steps per minute – which is supposed to be the sweet spot.
Additionally, I decided to do this run without listening to music or podcasts (I normally run with something occupying my brain). I wanted to enjoy the run and stay tuned the fellow runners.
Despite being cold (around 40 degrees), it turned out to be a great run for me. I ran at 9:13/mile, which is the fastest i’ve run in a long time. Out of about 250 participants, I was the 59th finisher overall and the 5th finisher in my age group (men 45-49).
To help keep me humble, the overall winner finished the 5K in about 17 minutes. Most astonishing, a 9-year-old boy ran it faster than me (somewhere around 21 minutes, if I remember correctly)!
Linda walked the coarse with a really good friend, Robin. I was able to catch a photo of them crossing the finish line:
Finally, this picture proves that we’re fun, selfie-taking, photo-bombing crazy people:
