What: Sabates Eye Care Trolley RunWhen: Sunday, April 28thWhere: Kansas CityDistance: 4 MilesGoal: Sub 30:00
Sunday morning I ran my first race after my shoulder surgery (December). The weather was perfect with temps around 45-50F and no wind. I had planned to run this race by starting at close to my PR pace (6:45) and then trying to hold it until I crashed and burned, which would be inevitable. I figured this would give me a true test of my current fitness. I started my garmin with the gun instead of when I crossed the timing mat, which made it tough to judge my pace for the first mile. According the the Garmin, I finished Mile 1 in 7:10, but after comparing my garmin time to chip time, my pace for Mile 1 was about 6:54. The race is a generally downhill course, but there are a few inclines spread out in each mile. I kept picking out runners as pace rabbits and would need to pick new ones whenever they sped up too much or i passed them which happend for most of the rabbits. I finished Mile 2 in 6:56. Mile 3 was starting to get tough but I managed to hold on and finished it in 6:58. I managed to hold the pace until I reached the 3.25 mile point at which time I broke down and walked for 10-15 seconds. I quickly thought of a line from a Sick Puppies song.."don't cry like a bitch when you feel the pain" and started running again. I ended up passing everyone who passed me during my moment of weakness and finished mile 4 in about 7:18 (can't remember off hand). My garmin measured the course at 4.03 miles and recorded my kick as being a 5x pace (can't remember that either). My official finish time was 28:06 which is a minute slower than my PR set at this race last year. I consider the race a success and am happy with where my recovery is currently. Even though I'm not quite in race shape yet, I'm still going to try for a 5K PR on Saturday.
Eric
Congratulations on beating your goal on your first race post surgery.
Wait, no pics? Sniff.
Damaris
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Excellent job, Eric! It looks promising for your 2013-14 races. Congratulations!
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Hip Redux
Excellent! Only a minute off your PR after being on the DL is impressive.
Nice job of getting back out there. It's tough when you come back to be slower than you were and have to get that back but you'll get it back faster than you realize.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Damaris - Thanks! I do have pics, but they're on my home computer and I posted from work.
lily - Thanks! I'm hoping so.
Oski - Thanks!
LTH - Thanks! The speed is already coming back faster than I thought it would. I just need to get back to running more consistently to help it along.
YAYpril - B-Plus
Congrats - you did great!
Go figure
Looks like your race strategy melds perfectly with your screen name! You really held on to the pace, especially considering you took a second to walk in there. Considering the time off from injury, you really had an awesome race and beat the heck out of your goal. Good luck with the 5k.
Trying to find some more hay to restock the barn
Great effort your first time back. You're only going to get faster now.
AprilRunner - Thanks!
So_Im_a_Runner - Thanks! My screen name was suggested years ago on RWOL from the way I raced.
B-Plus - Thanks!