Run for the Reef Recap

This was my first time doing this race and I can tell you right now that I'll do it again next year.  Before I recap the race, I have to talk about my achilles.

Last week, Wednesday I think, I noticed some tenderness in my left achilles.  Not pain, but definitely discomfort.  Since I was racing Saturday, I decided to not do any running on Thursday or Friday.  I got my cardio on the recumbent and elliptical.

Best Shirt Ever!

Ok, now for the race.  What can I say, this was a great race.  Not really sure why I didn't do it last year, but I can assume it was a conflict with another race.  The weather was perfect.  Well, maybe not perfect, but a heck of a lot better then if it had been hot.  I think the temp was in the high 50s or low 60s.  It was a 7:30 race, so I got there about 6:30.   I like to get to my races early so that I can relax and get my warm up in.  My warm up went really good.  I felt pretty strong and the foot didn't bother me.

The race got off late, but got off none the less.  I always hate that because I'm ready to run and then I have to wait.  I felt strong like I said, so I had a good pace going at the start.  I steadily pasted runner after runner.  At about the end of the second mile, I felt like I was slowing down a bit.  I had to push harder then I was expecting.  By the end of the third mile, I was pushing hard.  I knew my pace had slowed some.  I sprinted as fast as I could to finish the last tenth of a mile.  I crossed the finish line at 24:22.  Not a bad time, but honestly I thought I would was going to do better.  It was flat out and back course.  One that I was hoping to PR on.  Oh well, my time was still good.

Best Award Ever!

I got to meet Karly from Dailymile and her family.  It's great meeting my friends from DM!  This was her first race ever!  She did great BTW!  Her and her family stayed around to see how I did.  The only negative about the race was that they didn't post the results anywhere.   It's not a BAD thing, but I'd like to know how I did in case I had to leave.  Anyway, they stayed around and I didn't disappoint.  I ended up with 1st in my age group.  Yay me!  Oh and they had the best, hands down, award ever

While the race was a complete success, my achilles wasn't.  It was really giving me problems as I left the post party.  Going down the stairs hurt.  I took Sunday as a complete rest day and will not run on it for a couple more days.  I have a 4.8 mile race Saturday and have to be ready.

As always my friends, remember, 'Real athletes run, all the rest just play games'!