20 miles this morning, but they came in phases; 6 miles pre-race, 3.1 mile race, 6 miles pre-awards and 5 more miles post-awards. Get then any way you can, right?
I had a choice between two different races this morning. The first was a 5k @ Tualatin HS, less than 2 miles from my house and the winner received a free pair of shoes from Road Runner Sports. The second choice was a 5k @ Bush Park in Salem where the award was a ceramic plate as the race was in conjunction with the Salem Arts Festival. I'd ran this race in 2007 and despite leading for 95% of the race, an extra wide turn at the end cost me the win as the second place guy made a straight shot for the finish and beat me to the tape. Also going into the decision was the fact that I wanted to race in fivefingers and this course was made for these shoes. As such, I passed on the chance for new shoes and headed for Salem with my fivefingers in tow.
Left the house @ 5:30, got to the race @ 6:30 to sign up and then put in 6 miles for a warm up. My legs felt...dead. Oh well. The course isn't PR material and I just wanted to have a good experience with no wrong turns this time around.
I changed my shoes and stretched a bit, then lined up with the others @ 7:45. There can be a bottle neck at 400 meters so I jumped out quickly after the gun sounded. I took the lead from the start and....that's how the race played out until the finish. I was followng two guys on bikes as there were many twists and turns so it was helpful to be following someone (but I could have gone without the dust they were creating. No biggie.). It worked out that I ran 13 seconds faster than in 2007 so that's something positive. Splits were all over the place though (5:06, 5:29, 5:09, 28). Perhaps the second marker was a bit long, although that was the mile with the tough hill and I may have just lost focus during the middle section. Hard to say...
So yeah, it was a really fun course--what a xc course should be. And I loved the feeling of racing in fivefingers, especially on the trails. Not so much on the pavement...
I finished and ran 1 more mile in my fivefingers and then 5 more around Salem while I waited for awards. The awards and prizes were top-notch--I'm pleased with my decision to race in Salem.
During the awards I met a couple guys who work as shoe developers for Nike. Had a good chat with them about fivefingers, Born to Run, etc. They were pretty cool--in fact, they brought a camping stove, frying pan and pancake mix to make pancakes during the drawn out awards. Pretty good idea and very tasty!
Spoke to another guy (Ryan White? I'm horrible with new names) who was from SLC and visiting his parents in Salem. He asked what it takes to get better/faster and I simply put it as 'it's all about the miles.' I guess I'm fully converted to the FRB. In fact, as he's from Utah, I told him about the blog and perhaps he'll join.
Anywho, 5 more miles after awards and by then I was thirsty, hungry, tired, stiff, etc. Time to stretch and then enjoy a fantastic weekend!
Lunar (450)
VFF (135) | 