It's A Race, It's A Race!

Today I ran my first road race in more than 13 months. It was awesome! I have been battling this weird leg injury, which mostly consists of incredibly tight calves whenever I run. I took about 10 months off and got back to running happy in November. I've stuck to about 2 or 3 miles, four or five day. Given how bad things were in the fall of 2006, everything has been going well. I run at the gym and while running on the treadmill is not my favorite, I am able to do my full dynamic warm-up in the gym (it's harder to do outside because I have to take my shoes off for one part).

A few days ago, I found out about a 5K in Golden Gate Park (in conjunction with a half marathon). The entry fee was steep since I was signing up so late, but it was worth it for me to get to race. It's been a rainy, rainy two weeks here, and today was no exception. Although today was intermittently rainy; sprinkles before the race then a brief pour when I hit mile three. I drove up to the city in the dark, but once I hit Great Highway (runs along the Pacific), you could see the white waves crashing. It was windy! Parking was crazy and I rushed to get on the buses to the park, since I still had to pick up my number. I ended up having almost an hour to warm-up, which is too much when you're only running 5K. It was weird being at a race and recognizing no one. I was in the Boston running scene enough to know a few people at every race. It's nice to have running friends.

The race was fun...there was a girl in front of me the whole time...I think she was probably 10 years old. I'm not sure if I beat her in the end, so I guess it didn't really bother me. I ran a 24:38 (my time, not gun time), which is more than a minute faster per mile than I can maintain on the treadmill. There's just something different about the roads...I can always run faster.

I'll try to run another 5K in three weeks or so. I'm doing my best to stay patient and stick to low mileage. I would rather be able to run for years and years than to be able to say that I have run x half-marathons and y marathons. I'm working on being patient!