Rosie's Garage Almost 5K

I returned home from my business trip to Cleveland very late Wednesday night. Due to mechanical issues and weather conditions in Phoenix I arrived 3.5 hours later than planned into LAX rather than Ontario (CA not Canada). My luggage and car spent an extra day in Ontario until I could get out there Thursday after work to pick them up. Not the end of the world but if I were recommending airlines it wouldn't be America West/US Airways. I'm just sayin'.

The orthodontist visits went well and provided us with some great feedback on a new adhesive. I was able to meet up with some family. My little sister picked me up at the airport, my parents drove over (about 1:15) for dinner on Monday, and on Tuesday I was able to meet up with my middle sister and her three daughters for dinner.

I got two runs in - 6.5 miles on Monday evening and 6 more on Wednesday morning around the town of Twinsburg, OH. Twinsburg is home to a hugely popular Twins Day Festival in August. Since the half marathon last weekend my legs have felt pretty dead. I'm not sure if the extra miles are finally showing themselves or if it is in my head. I was also somewhat disturbed about how easily my schedule got derailed. One business trip and the snafu with luggage and car and I feel lucky to have just gotten in my originally scheduled miles let alone any extra.

That brings me to today and the Rosie's Garage Almost 5K, the last race in the Puma Cup Series. On the way down to the race I gave Jeff a call to wish him well in his first triathlon. I really hope it went well for him. I had toyed with the idea of dumping my Almost 5K to go show support for Jeff (the event at Bonelli is basically in my front yard) but ultimately decided to see the Cup Series through to the end. I had received a map of the course earlier in the week, mapped it with g-maps pedometer and determined the course to be 2.95 miles, Almost 5K. This was confirmed by both Theresa and Jim's Garmins at the race, within a couple of hundredths. I met Jesse at the registration table, then ran into Jay on the way back from putting the race T into my car. I did a warm up run with Jay, then another short one with Jesse. We got all lined up for the 8:00 a.m. start to end up standing around for nearly 30 minutes before the race finally started. Apparently there was some miscommunication with the local Police about coning off lanes for the runners. Once that was done the race went off without a hitch.

I decided I wan't going to push myself too hard today since I couldn't really PR for a 5K. An Almost PR for an Almost 5K just didn't seem that important. Like I said the legs have been flat and I still had the long run tomorrow to get through. Early on we settled into our usual positions with Jesse in the lead, followed by Jim. It took me about a half mile to overtake Jay. We stayed that way throughout the race. I felt like I was running strong but not pushing myself. I concentrated on keeping a smooth consistent pace. I crossed the finish line in 21:06. By the time I saw the clock and realized how close I was to breaking 21:00, I just didn't have it in me mentally to get there, too hung up on the Almost 5K part I guess. When I got home I extrapolated my time out to a full 5K and came up with 22:10. This is about in line with where I've been lately, but not a PR effort.

The coolest thing about this race is I won my first age group award. I got 3rd place in the Male 40-44 category. Yahoo! I've never placed before. I was, needless to say, pretty stoked. When I got home my youngest son read the medal and gave me a High-5, then humbled me by saying "there were probably only 3 guys in your age group!" I will definitely check that out when the official results are posted on line. At the race I never looked past my own name. I hope he's not right, but even so 3rd place is mine. Yahoo, again! Jesse placed 1st in the 45-49 age group. Jim took 2nd in his AG and Jay took 1st in his AG. Theresa took 3rd by a few feet in her AG, while Cathe came in 1st for the walkers. Even with the late start Rosie's Garage turned out to be a pretty good day for our group.