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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Uh... I am the Second Warrior (new PR!)

Warrior 5k in Walnut Cove
Time: 20:02 (previous PR: 20:22)
Overall: 2nd
Age (30-39): 1st
Weather: perfect 60 degrees, sunny




Me with medal and Tito and struggling cabbage at my feet.

Not too shabby, especially with a big hill. I could see the leader the whole time, and basically hoped he got tired so I could catch up... didn't happen. He finished in 19:0something. If I could have seen the finish clock earlier, I would have sprinted for a sub-20... oh well.

I ditched my plan pretty early on - the counting felt silly. I did start a little farther from "the edge" and didn't push too hard at the beginning. But after the first minute, it was just me and the High School kid. So I tried to stay as comfortable as I could without letting him get too far away. At the halfway point, his mom told me not to catch him. "Don't worry," I panted. "I think he's safe."

The foot reception was very pleasant. Again, everyone was very nice and curious. I had ample opportunities to promote my sponsor, Charlie's Soap. The organizers were great, and I hope to race with them again soon. Good start to the day - now I'm off to teach art!

Oh - and how about knocking another 20 seconds off my PR? Thanks, Nike! You make a great hat!

6 comments:

  1. Excellent race!!! I'll be happy if I can get under 24 minutes next Sunday, but then again, I'm not using Charlie's Soap.

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  2. Sweet! I think the Nike hat is holding you up!

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  3. Zataod - I know the difference between correlation and causation, but all I'm saying is I dropped 31 seconds from my 5k since I started using it. Just saying.

    Jamoosh - I hope you're wrong - I really do like my NIKE hat... the next 5k is on turkey day. Maybe I'll go hatless.

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  4. Barefoot Larry GibbonsNovember 14, 2009 at 7:30 PM

    Hey, excellent run. You kicked my butt, I did my 5K in 23:07. I hope I can catch up to you. Must be the Charlies Soap that's making you fast!!

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  5. Barefoot Larry - I think the tempo runs are helping me more than the fartleks that used to comprise the entirety of my speedwork. If Lydiard is right, staying in a high aerobic state for a long time builds endurance, which you need in order to maintain speed. Once you have the endurance, then you can start bumping up the speed.

    Or something like that.

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  6. Congratulations on a new PR and 1st place in you AG. Nice hardware!

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