Sunday, August 17, 2008

'Nother Race, 'Nother PR

But then again, I knew that going into this one. Tonight was my first 7k race. That equates to 4.35 miles, which explains my weird running mile totals. The race was run on the Ghost Town Trail in Dilltown, PA. We actually started on the road adjacent to the trail itself and probably didn't get onto the trail until right after the two mile mark. By that point I was pacing pretty good and had a good feeling. The first two miles were rolling hills. A few of them were pretty challenging but as we made the sharp right hand turn onto the trail I knew it was flat the rest of the way.

For the next mile or so I trailed (pun intended) behind a group of three other runners. Two of them I had passed earlier and then they re-took me. The other two were ahead of me and we gradually pulled them in.

Just past the three mile mark I decided to make a move. I felt pretty good and I thought that if I had waited the good feeling would go away. So I pulled away from the three of them. Only one of them reeled me back in and he was strong to the finish. I never saw the other two until they came across the finish line a minute or so behind me.

When I went to the race earlier today I was hoping for a 30:00 run. I didn't feel all that great and once the race started I battled cotton mouth throughout. But for some reason that final 2 1/2 miles or so were great and I was strong. I set a PR with a time of 28:47 which I was very happy with. And perhaps the best part was the unique award that we received. It was a railroad spike painted gold with an engraved plate. (I was gonna post a picture but I'm too tired. Perhaps this week.).

Nevertheless, I know of no other 7k races in our area, so I'll have to wait until next year to challenge this PR. But for the start of a new week, I've gotten off to a great start.

1 comment:

Bert said...

You'll just have to add .65 to one of your runs to even up the mile totals, I guess... I've never heard of a 7k race but I recall running an 8k some years ago. Good job on the PR!