Well, I did it... I signed up for another race. This time, I was out to beat my time from my first race. This race was called The Shamrock Shuffle and it was ironically held on St. Patrick's Day. It started at 4pm and it really was a "great day for a run"... a little chilly and a little windy, but all in all great running weather.
For a while I thought I was going to be late for the race. I got to Polaris and parked at Hoggys Restaurant (where we were supposed to park) and then by the time I got everything ready, it was 3:55pm... I was still at my car! The racers were already at the starting line! I rushed over there and we all ended up waiting for about 15 minutes while the coordinator got volunteers ready for various tasks. The good news is that I ran into Chapel and Phil (The Presson's) and Phil and Heather Hanegan before the race. I work with Chapel, Phil, and Phil, so it was great seeing them there as well. Chapel was there to run the 10k (you go girl)! And Phil Hanegan was there to watch his daughter Ashley run the 5k and I'm sure to support Chapel as well. I tell you, Chapel was braver than me... I'm not ready for the 10k's yet. I'm still working on my 5k stamina... Chapel elected to run the 10k because she will be running the Peachtree 10k in Georgia with her sister on July 4th. The Peachtree race requires a qualifying time from another race to be eligible... Anyway, that's gonna be a hot one (July + Georgia = Hot)! :) Good luck girl!
So the race started and we all took off. My first mile was FAAAAAST, but I don't know exactly how fast because they didn't have any mile markers set out yet!!! They didn't get the mile markers laid out until the 2 mile marker. I was so bummed because I know that I beat my Arnold 5k fastest mile (7 minutes 47 seconds); no big deal I guess... I actually screwed up the lap counter on my watch anyway. Rather than hitting the 'Lap' button I hit the 'Start/Stop' button and stopped my watch at "what I thought should have been" the 1 mile marker...
Luckly they had a huge stop watch at the finish line and I saw that my total time in big bold numbers: 25 minutes and 45... 46... 47... 48... 49 seconds!!
I couldn't believe how much I beat my last time (by almost a full minute). Surprisingly enough, I came in 28th place overall and 21st place in overall mens. My pace calculated out to be an average of 8:19 per mile!!
Afterwards of course I got drunk at Claddagh's Irish Pub with my buddy Tyler.
Ok, so this race was a good one for me. I improved in all categories: fastest mile, faster overall time, faster mile pace, and best of all, I felt better during and after the race. I've already signed up for 2 more 5k races, so look for the blog entries. :) One is on April 1st, and the other one is on April 14th (my birthday). Stay tuned...
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