General Hancock 5k RR – 1^st race after injury

On May 17 I ran the General Hancock 5k. This particular race was put on by my township to celebrate the township’s 300^th anniversary and would take place right in my neighborhood!

Background: When I first heard about this event, I hadn’t run in 8 months. The previous June I suffered a herniated disc that hit the nerve going down my left leg. I completely lost the use of that leg due to pain and weakness. It just wouldn’t bear any weight. I was on crutches for at least a month and then a cane because just walking would cause me to become tired. After 2 epidural shots and several months of PT I was back to walking fairly normal and getting stronger. So I tried running in the fall of 2013 and soon discovered that the leg would go all gimpy at the 0.25 mile mark. After several attempts, I decided I wasn’t ready. Towards the end of February, I found out about this race. Even if I could only walk it, I had to do it! Of course, I would much rather RUN it. So I started riding the stationary bike every day and then at the beginning of March, I hit the roads. Because my previous attempts at running had taught me that things would go south at the 0.25 mile point, I started a run/walk strategy of just 0.1 miles with a 1 minute walk break for a total distance of 1 mile. I did this every day and gradually increased the run segments, which also eventually increased the overall distance. My leg started to feel better and better. My original goal for the race was just to finish and then, as things progressed with my “training”, it changed to running the race without any walk breaks. Soon I was able to eliminate the walk breaks entirely and felt very confident that I would achieve my goal. (I ran the course about a week and a half before the race and I’ve learned two things from that: I can finish in under 30 minutes and that is my new goal and, since I had to run well past the finish to get to 3.1 miles, the course is short.)

Race day: The weather is perfect! About 60˚F, sunny with no wind. The race starts and finishes in the park directly behind my house. My parents have come to watch along with DH, my two sons and the dog. They find a good spot to watch while I head out for a warm up. During my warm up I can’t see the start and start to worry about time. I head over and people are already lining up, so I join them and do some stretches while I wait. Apparently they started a few minutes early. My DH told me later that one poor woman completely missed the start and the clock was already at 4:00 when she started.

Mile 1: The start is uphill on the park path toward my neighborhood. It’s not a narrow path, but narrower than a road, so it’s a bit congested even with only about 150 runners. Even at my slower pace I find myself having to dodge people everywhere. I wave to my little group of spectators and head out of the park. Once we get on the roads the crowd thins out and I can settle in. To get my sub 30, all I have to do is keep up a 9:30 pace. Normally this would be easy, but these days my pace is much slower and I am still not at my previous fitness level. It feels like it takes forever to get to the first mile mark. Maybe that is because half of that was uphill? Finally we get there: 9:04. That is very encouraging!

Mile 2: After passing the 1 mile mark I notice a guy in a red shirt. I decide he is running the pace I want to maintain, so I decide to stay with him. The race takes us around a large loop in my neighborhood and then we go around again, but the second time we turn off to make a smaller second loop before heading back to the park. I keep pacing off of Red Shirt Guy. The second mile is usually the point where I wonder why I am putting myself through this, but my leg feels great! No tightness or discomfort at all. So far so good: 9:10.

Mile 3: I’m getting tired, but the leg still feels okay. I keep following Red Shirt Guy. I wave to some neighbors as I pass by. I do wish there were more people out to cheer us on, but at least there are a few. I originally thought that I could start speeding up when I had about a half a mile to go, but it’s not happening even though it’s literally all down hill from here. Red Shirt Guy is pulling away. I head back into the park and see my family waiting. I wave, but I’m not sure if they see me yet. Suddenly two women go flying past. Oh, crap! Where did they come from? I speed up and follow them in to the finish. 26:29 on the clock. Huh? That doesn’t match with my 9+ mile pace and then I remember that the course is short. It ends up being only 2.9 miles. But I am really pleased because even if it had been 3.1, I still would have been under 30 minutes. I walk through the chute and head over to grab some water (my mouth is so dry!). That’s when I realize that I forgot to stop my Garmin. Dang it! I do this at every single race! It is so annoying.

I have to say this race was better organized than I expected. (Maybe too organized. They had 6 port-o-potties for 150 runners and a crazy amount of police/fire police throughout the course.) I do wish it had been closer to an actual 5k, but I liked that the course started out uphill so that we had a nice downhill at the finish. The missing 0.2 is my only complaint.

I’m really glad I got to do this race. It was the motivation I needed to get back out there and try running again. Although my fitness level is not where it was, I honestly can’t believe the improvement I made in just two and half months. I went from struggling to run a quarter mile to finishing a sub-30 5k. Next up? The Oy Vey 5k. That’s where I set my PR of 25:35 last year. I won’t be anywhere near that, but at least I will be able to run it.

Note: I waited so long to post this that I've since run 2 more 5ks. My Oy Vey time was 28:03.

Because my previous attempts at running had taught me that things would go south at the 0.25 mile point, I started a run/walk strategy of just 0.1 miles with a 1 minute walk break for a total distance of 1 mile. I did this every day and gradually increased the run segments, which also eventually increased the overall distance. My leg started to feel better and better. My original goal for the race was just to finish and then, as things progressed with my “training”, it changed to running the race without any walk breaks. Soon I was able to eliminate the walk breaks entirely and felt very confident that I would achieve my goal.

This is absolutely amazing!

Congratulations on your return to running.  It sounds like both training and race strategy were excellent! Nice job!

Thanks, all! Yes, I am pretty pleased with my progress. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to run again and now I am back at it and almost back to where I was 1+ year ago. (My last race was only 1 minute off my PR time!)

Excellent!

Thanks, Bloo! (She is so cute!)