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<span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Fresh off a bit of a disappointing MCM I decided to run a 5K and signed up while recovering from a sinus infection from hell. In the two weeks after the MCM I got two runs in and felt pretty good so I felt ready for the 5K.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">This 5K is called the Hoover Run for Hope, and is in memory of Liam Hoover who lost his battle to cancer in 2005 at the young age of 12. His parents have organized the race to benefit St. Jude's Childrens hospital and put on an absolutely outstanding race. An aside: I noticed his mother right away (though I didn't know who she was) because she had a big smile and was encouraging everyone, and without even knowing her, I could tell she was one of those people who is a really good person. When I thought about the unbearable heartache she and her family has been through, the word “perseverance” came to mind. Only God can bring you through those things, and I think He gives us physical ways to strengthen our mental and emotional fortitude, and one of those ways is running.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">It’s funny to hear what some of the people at races say…for example, there was a girl about 13 or so who asked her friend at the starting line if she was going to “run” the race, and her friend said yes. She replied with a flip of her hand, “Well my crosscountry season is OVER.” I just thought that was funny…but was glad in a way because that meant one less 13 year old girl would beat me in the race.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">Also, before the race, a mother was walking with her young son, who was maybe 10 yrs old and she was telling him, “This is a serious thing for them, it’s like their sport…” I’m not sure, but maybe the kid had been the unfortunate recipient of someone’s nervous energy before the race. I had to laugh at the “seriousness” because I was nervous and wanting to do well, but to hear her explain to her son gave me a slightly different perspective. (So I quit screaming at kids - KIDDING!!! I didn't scream at anyone.)</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Well the gun went off and just before the start someone had said, “This is a pretty hilly course.” I thought, ‘GREAT!!! Every race I pick is hilly – I need to research more.” Then I thought, “Get over it…so I got over it, and the race started.” There was a mass of people in front of me so it took a little while to get out in the open to find my pace so I was doing the slow/fast/slow/fast thing for about a quarter mile, then we got spread out and it was easy to run. My first mile split was 7:04 and I felt ok, though I could tell I was pushing it pretty hard. During mile 2 there was a pretty good climb, my elevation profile shows that from mile 1.5 to mile 2 there’s a 100 ft rise in elevation, so maybe that’s why my 2nd mile was 7:40…or maybe it’s because my stomach had that burning/cramping feeling and I had started fighting to keep a decent pace. Regardless, because of my disappointment in myself at the MCM for doing the walk/run from mile 21 on I'd had some serious self talk and today I was going to run hard until I threw up or passed out or something traumatic happened…no wimping out just because it hurt.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">Just after mile 2 I saw a guy a head of me who I knew from other races was fairly fast, so I started “reeling him in” and telling myself to “get tough, the pain will only be for another mile”. I was closing in on him when my body decided NOT to cooperate with this – and suddenly I was bent over convulsively heaving. I guess the good thing about it, if there is one, is that nothing actually came up (sorry I know this is gross), so I took a couple of steps, then the convulsive heaving started again, eyes watering, the whole bit. I did this about 4 or 5 times, and according to my Garmin data lost about 2 minutes before I could start running again. I had my UA coldgear shirt on, and the neck felt like it was choking me, so to start back running, I had to pull my shirt away from my neck so I didn’t feel like I was gagging. I went on to finish the race and my final time was 23:51, which happens to be 2 seconds SLOWER than the 5K PR of a certain Pink Skirted Princess, oh but of course she didn’t give me a hard time about it (and there’s never cold weather in Canada either <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Wink"> ).</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">So here are my splits: mile 1 – 7:04, mile 2 – 7:40, mile 3 – 8:11.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">I don’t know what to do about getting sick when I exert, but it’s incredibly frustrating. I’ve decided I’m going to have to run hard a lot more just to feel that running exertion feeling more often and maybe get used to it.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Once I crossed the finish line and walked around a while I was ok. I even ran another 3 miles with some people I knew from other races, so I know if I can figure out how to fix the weak link (my stomach) I can do much better. The positive side of it is, at least I know I exerted pretty hard, and for me I’m not very forgiving to myself if I wimp out and don’t run hard. My time and place is what it is, but there’s never an excuse for doing less than the best I can do. So today, the best I could do was 23:51 which is a PR by almost 2 minutes.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">It was a great race and it’s for a really good cause, so I plan on doing this one next year as well.</span></span>
