First 5K in Over 20 years
On Saturday, October 27th I ran my first 5K in many years. This was a last minute sort of thing – I signed up the Wednesday before the event. The last time I lined up at the starting line for a foot race was about 20 years ago. Even longer since I last ran a 5K race. You see, after I started running 10, 20 and 30Ks, the 5K felt like too much of a sprint. After training and running marathons, a 5K (3.1 miles) was more of a warm up exercise. But that was then.
Running a race then and now for me
Then:
Get up early to eat and get ready for my race only to show up five minutes before the gun went off because I could not get my dad going. Back then, I depended on my parents to get me to races and we lived about 30 minutes from downtown Houston. All the way to the race my dad would complain about having to get up early on his day off. Since we usually arrived minutes before the gun went off, my dad would just drop me off near the starting line and then he would go to find parking. Not much time left to warm up.
Now:
Wake early because I forgot about packet pick up so I need to be at the course early. Not a problem. Now I only live 5 minutes from downtown and on the same street that most races (including this one) are run on. After I pick up my packet I decide I still have lots of time so I go to La Madeleine for breakfast and I even stop at my apartment for my heart rate monitor that I forgot. My office and parking are in the Pennzoil Building that is only about a block or two from the starting line. No problem finding a place to park! I use my office as a place to get ready for the race: put my race number on, put my chip on (I did not have this back then!), stretch and I do a few runs up and down the hallway and in the nice warm underground garage. No worries about car keys or badges since the guys working the security desk gladly look after them for me.
Then:
I usually know a couple of the runners but not many since I train outside of downtown and most of them are much older than me.
Now:
I am one of those older runners that trains and lives in the downtown area. I know quite a few of the runners since I train with some of them or I know them from some of the places I frequent (Luke’s Locker, Memorial Park).
Then:
I depend on my Seiko runner’s watch to keep me on pace. I think it was only able to keep 8 alarms that I used to check my pace. I pay close attention to the splits that are yelled at each mile.
Now:
I am wired like a NASA astronaut! I glance at my watch to get time of day, pace, elapsed time and distance. In addition to distance traveled, thanks to GPS, my watch also keeps track of my heading and elevation changes. It stores all of this information plus mile splits for me to look at later on the watch (as I learned to do at the event) or on my laptop (which is what I usually did). It also monitors my heart rate. I don’t really pay too much attention to what is being yelled out at each mile – my watch tells me everything I need to know as far as times.
Then:
I start tapering off a week before the event. I don’t run two days before the event and “only” run six miles the day before the event.
Now:
I start tapering off as soon as I decide to run (see above) and I don’t run until the day of the event. (Six miles is about all I care to run these days.)
Then:
When I started training for an event I already had a time in mind that I was shooting for.
Now:
It was not until I saw the clock at the finish line that breaking 20 minutes became a goal (I just made it).
Then:
My pace for a 30K race used to be 6:00 minutes per mile. I was disciplined enough to keep my pace for most of the race within 5 seconds. Only when I knew I had no problem completing the race (maybe six miles from the finish) did I just cut loose.
Now:
Pace? I take off like a madman and unable to maintain my initial speed. My last mile is almost a minute slower than my first mile. I never realized how much elevation Houston has especially on Allen Parkway. One mile from the finish line I am still in doubt as to whether I will finish or not. At 1.7 miles, even my heart rate monitor strap is bothering me. My average mile works out to 6 minutes 19 seconds. That is 19 seconds slower than my 30K pace used to be and about the same as my marathon pace. Of course, I am 20 years older and almost 40 pounds heavier.
