A few weeks ago I got an email from City Sports for an ongoing series of free 5k's and decided, hey, why not? I had made plans to sign up for like five different races with Jaime and never followed through for a variety of reasons, so I asked her to run this one with me.
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| Reebok One Series Shoe |
I felt underprepared. It was only 3 miles, sure, but I hadn't been running on a steady schedule. When I was running I would do about 2 - 2.5 miles before calling it quits. It was only 5 days after my Spartan and my muscles were just back to normal again. My goal was to just run the whole thing, no matter how slow my time was.
This 5k fun run (not race) was a wear-test for the new Reebok One Series shoe. We arrived at the City Sports store on Boylston St., where we had the option to swap out our shoes and wear the Reebok's for the run. Luckily they had my size, so I decided to wear the new shoe. Several people approached me while we hung around the store with the crowd of runners waiting for the run to begin. I was wearing my Spartan headband, partially because I'm a tad bit superstitious and I had a good run at the Spartan and partially because I lost my only other decent headband. It was the best conversation starter short of a cute dog. A handful of people had run the Spartan the same day as I had, and a few were running the Fenway one as well. One of the employees found me for a second time in the crowd. He was muscular, fit, obviously very athletic and strong... and he was nervous about running his first Spartan in November at Fenway. He wanted training tips from me. I tried not to laugh in his face (in a good way), and told him if I could do it then he could ABSOLUTELY do it. It was mildly flattering, though.
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| The Esplanade |
The course was essentially a big rectangle around Back Bay, and I made sure to commit it to memory before we started because I assumed I would not keep up with the faster people (I was correct). One of the designers of the shoe was there and gave us a quick blurb about it, then promised us the best run of our lives. HA, OKAY. The gang of 30ish+ runners (I'm not a great estimator) stayed together for the first mile or so since we kept getting stopped at lights, but once we hit the Esplanade the groups split up. I knew from running at home that if I ran too fast in my first mile that I would burn out, so I was a little concerned when the MapMyRun voice said my split pace was 10:30 at the first mile (a decently quick mile for me). I picked a group ahead of me, decided to keep up with them, and tried to enjoy the run. The Esplanade is quite pretty, after all. By the time we reached the Mass. Ave Bridge I realized I wasn't in the fast group, but I wasn't last. Good enough for me.
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| Success |
I surprised myself by doing a faster second mile, and then an even faster third mile. I attribute that to not getting stopped at any crosswalks, as we had several times in the beginning. If I had to stop at a crosswalk I don't think I would have run the whole thing.
I was curious to see how I would do in a group setting. I seemed to have some source of untapped energy during the Spartan race (adrenaline, I'm sure), and the same happened in this run. I wasn't in a large group, but I didn't want to be the one that stopped to walk. Maybe it's the competitive spirit in me, or maybe I'm vain, but it worked!
It was only a 5k, sure, but it was an accomplishment for me. I achieved my goal of not stopping to walk and I set a personal best. The shoes were great, and I did have my best time for that distance so far. I hesitate to attribute that solely to the shoes, but they certainly didn't hurt!
We grabbed our stuff, I exchanged my shoes, and we were about to head out when I remembered that I had submitted a raffle ticket when we first got there. I was meeting a friend for drinks and food, which I was eager to consume both of, and I've never won a raffle. Just as we were about to leave they announced they would be doing the raffle outside, so I called my friend and told him I would be leaving in a few minutes, ending with "I don't know, I feel lucky today". The first prize was two entry bibs to the Tufts 10k. I looked over at Jaime and said, "If I win this I will be livid. I'll pass." The first name was called, and called again, but no one responded.... so another name was picked. Mine. The first raffle prize I ever win in my 23 years on this planet and it's two entries to a 10k.
Damnit.
Now I have to run a 10k.
Well, guess I have something else to train for. I'm smiling, I swear.
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