What a great run today. The goal for this morning’s run was to finish 5 miles in the 40 minutes I had planned, to finish 5k in under 23:30, and to get better as the miles progressed, not the other way around.
I could feel myself running out a little too hard to start, and tried to focus more on my breath and my cadence, less about speed. When I heard the first mile announcement, “1 mile, 7 minutes, 54 seconds,” I knew I could beat that on the next mile. Still focusing on breath and cadence, I picked up the pace a little bit.
The next mile flew by, and then, “2 miles, last mile, 7 minutes, 31 seconds.” That was a pretty great feeling. First time that mile two has been faster than mile one. My third mile is always uphill, so getting faster still was going to be hard. But with quick math I figured that I had to keep myself under 8 minutes on that 1.1 miles to get the 5k time I was looking to beat.
Before I heard my 3rd mile time stamp, which coincidentally was 8:16, I ran into a delay. A local kid had fallen and broken his leg riding his bike on his way to school. I called 911, and sat with him to wait for the paramedics.
The last time I called 911 for paramedics, the very same paramedics, I might add, was just a little over five years ago. The same guys marched up into our house, and into the room to find me unable to sit up or stand. Inside the small of my back was a bulging disc protruding 2cm.
As they wheeled out the sedan chair for this kid, I came face to face with the very chair that left me with the nerve damage in my left leg.
I chuckled to the captain, a mustachioed stocky guy I remember from years back, “You know, five years ago you guys had me in that chair lifting me out of my house. I’m sure you don’t remember, but it’s taken me a long time to be able to get out and run like this.”
He said, “Really? Wow.”
“Yup. You guys do good work, man. Thanks for everything.” Even though I wanted to tell him that it was that sedan chair that left me scarred. They really do good work. Big shoutout to all of the firefighters in the world. It can be a thankless job, and we’re all indebted to the work they do.
The nice part about the break in the run, was that mile 4 was again faster than 3, and 5 wasn’t that much slower than 4.
I felt good. Very little knee pain, today. Pretty sure that rolling out my IT band on my medicine ball before running is what helped. I could feel my whole muscular system on the left side working much smoother.
Honestly, I think I just missed the 5k mark I was aiming for, but nailed the 5 miles in 39:30. The goal for the year is to be able to run a sub-7 minute mile, a 5k in 22:00, and a sub-48 minute 10k. I’d push for much more on the 10k, but as I’m working to get my knee strength and endurance in place, sub-8 miles for 6.1 miles (a distance I’ve yet to run without knee pain) seems like an achievable goal this year.
Hope you all have a great day, whether you’re training or resting! Eat well. Stay hydrated!
