The Trilogy is now
complete. The 3rd Annual
Running of the Wolves 5K took place Sunday morning, May 6th.
Having run in the first two I
needed something special for the 3rd. While I didn’t entirely embarrass myself in
the first two runnings, I did run slower the second year compared to the
first. I needed to reverse that
trend. It’s time to get serious. First thing I needed was a little divine intervention
and found it at the race registration.
The stars were in alignment as I
was assigned #25 for the race (as opposed to Sosa’s #21 last year) - obviously paying tribute to former
Cub and my favorite - Derrek Lee.
This would certainly send me off
in the right direction to better my time of 35:12 last year (one minute, 4 seconds
slower than my inaugural race). But it wouldn’t
be enough, so to make sure I could last the entire race, I bulked up, weighing
in 15 pounds heavier than last year's race.
In retrospect, increasing weight for a distance race isn’t optimal, but
the Twix and Kit Kat were going down easy.
OK, Divine Intervention and
bulking up taken care of, what’s next?
Research! My co-worker Katie told
me about an article “The Couch-to-5K Running Plan” by Josh Clark. I trained by printing off the article.
Actually I didn't want to do too much too fast, so I had Katie print it off for me. I did read it though.
Well, actually I got winded a few paragraphs into it so I set it down but the
idea was solid.
Batting cleanup – science. Aerodynamics to be specific. I cut my hair one notch shorter than normal
to provide the sleek line. What I forgot at the time was that I wear a hat when I'm outdoors to protect my folically challenged dome from the sun. Aerodynamics may have been cancelled out by the bill of my cap (not to mention the sluggishness of my gait).
Since shoes make the runner, I
went out the week before and grabbed some comfortable Nikes that were on sale.
According to their designer, Nike shoes are guaranteed to not tear an ACL. I
needed all the help I could get.
And finally, like last year,
perhaps the most important piece of equipment is a fully charged IPod. I have found from the previous two 5Ks that
not only is the music uplifting and can set a nice pace, if you crank the
volume loud enough you can't hear your lungs wheeze and crackle. Tim McGraw took me out for the first half and
Straight No Chaser carried me home.
Did it work? Was I successful? Well, let’s define success. Did I better my two previous times? No. I
scorched the finish line at 36:23, coming in 5th in my age group.
Did I escape with injury? Definitely.
Just some stretched, tired leg muscles.
But no torn ACLs, slipped disks or high ankle sprains. On the extra high side, my daughter Ally won
a medal for finishing second in her age group and both she and my other
daughter Kristi knocked five minutes off their times from last year.
And in the end, that’s what is
really important. Continuing a family
tradition with my girls, times be damned.
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