Rain, Sweat & Beers!

A handful of the PrecisionMTB team made an appearance at the Corktown races this morning. We had small but, good group. Bryan Deal, Jim Senska, Andy Staub, myself and Andy E. and his family cheered us on. We were fortunate that the rain, which had been relentless the day prior and the morning of broke just in time for the race. The start of the race was a real site to see. There was sea of green shirts, hats, beads, face paint and in some cases, fish net stockings. The race was an out and back. We went our directly into a head wind. I went out in what I felt was a conservative 5:25 first mile. I heard the split at the mile, did the math in my head, knew I was on pace to break my 17 minute goal and felt good. The competitive blood started boiling over in my veins and I put in a big surge passing a small group of runners that had slowed due to the increasing head wind. I surged for what equated to approx. a 1/2 mile. Then the reality of my 170+ lbs and lack of running came drushing down upon me. I struggled through the nex 1/2 mile and came through mile two in 5:49. At the time I wished I hadn't heard the demoralizing split. I knew 17 minutes was now out of reach. I tried to fight the burning in my lungs, the cramp forming in my diaphram and the lack of power in my legs through the next mile but, it was all over. I was spent. The next mile felt like two. I was so disoriented that I was looking ahead for some kind of landmark to gauge the distance remaining that and didn't even see the old train station. As I neared the turn into the finished, I clicked off my third mile split, 5:56. I rounded the corner and cruised to the finish. Not much else to say about the race other than, I am worse shape than I had hoped and I officially ran the worst 5k of my life. 17:47.  On a positive note, I did see a quite a few familiar faces and friends from my high school and college days. That alone made the day.

The festivities after the race turned out to be much more enjoyable. Bryan Deal and I ended up at Corktown tavern with Andy Staub, Jim Senska and a few friends.

In the end, we had a blast and are planning to be back next year.

Lot's of work left to do before the GLR. Can't wait for the weather to break. This rain is miserable.