I'm a runnin' fool - Three 5k races in one week

Bill's New Hobby - 5k races

As I wrote in my previous post, distance racing is totally new to me. I've been doing it a week.

I've won two awards in three races and my time has improved with each race.

My personal best 5k is now 22:35. Not too bad for a beginning runner who has never trained for such an event.

My latest stunt was to run two 5k races just 13 hours apart. The 27th Annual Rudolph Run on Friday night, 12/7/07, and the Frostbite 5k in Hendersonville at 8 am Sat. morning 12/08.

Here's a brief recap of the races:

12/1 - Jingle Bell 5K - Shelby Park, Nashville, about 400 total runners. I won Second Prize in my age group out of 12, time: 22:56. The course was the best of the three I ran. Fairly flat, very cool weather. I barely even sweat.

12/7 - Rudolph Rednose 5k Run - Nashville, about 900 total runners. I finished 6th in my age group out of 45, time of 22:40. This run was hard. Starting from near Titan's Stadium, we ran up the hill and across the bridge down the Christmas parade route - 2nd Ave up Broadway to 5th and back the same way with hundreds of people lining the streets. It was very competitive and the winner finished in a time of 15:29!

12/8 - Frostbite 5k, Hendersonville, TN, total of about 400 runners. I won Third Prize in my age group out of 16 with a personal best time of 22:35, (7:17 per mile pace). This was also a hard course and anything but frostbite weather. It was nearly 60 degrees and raining lightly. There were a lot of up and down hills on this course. I went out probably too fast again, my mile split was 6:24, two mile split was 14:07.

It has become apparent that this type of racing is all about lungs, aerobic conditioning and efficiency of stride. I never had the lungs to run such distances, even in my youth as a top sprinter. But I have found that those that stand out in these races in the older age groups have been doing it a long time. I was beaten in my first race by a 67 yr old man, a man my father's age. Well, he showed up to all three race, but he didn't beat me again. Jimmy, my age group rival that beat me every time also showed up for these 3 races. In my last race, a 62 yr old man beat me by a little. I find these older athletes totally inspiring. The kind of runners I hope to be when I reach that age. I would love to get faster as I get older.

Who knows, I may never run another race, or I may actually train and see what I can do.