Corktown 5k from my personal Ground Zero....

I'll start this off on a positive note. Corktown 5k was a blast. The weather was great. Given the record number of attendance. Parking was a mess. Luckily Bryan, Lee and I rode down together, found a spot at the last minute and ended up parking in pretty much a dead end alley. Turns out that there is actually Canadian property in the US. Lee discovered this after narrowly escaping an international pooping incident on the property next to the alley. Not expecting much, I hadn't thought much about goals for the race or what I would deem this a "successful" race. After some discussion, I settled on 6 minute pace or better and a top 50 finish since that would result in a beer mug. Hoping, I could suprise myself and crush those hopefully easily obtainable goals The start was congested as I remember it being the year before but, Lee and I managed to tuck in near the start and got through the abrupt first turn without a hitch. I ran the first mile with fellow EMU Alum Scott Setkze in 5:36. And it hurt. It felt like an all out sprint. I was pretty surprised at how close I still was to the front at the turn around. I wasn't surprised that last year's race experience repeated itself. The 1.5 mile return felt like 4 miles up a never ending hill. At least this year the wind was less of a factor. My next mile was spot on at 6 minutes. While I was miserable, I was holding out hope I'd be able to at least maintain the pace. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. In ended up crossing the finish line in 18:36 in 50th place. Just barely reaching my mediocre goal of 6 minute pace and a beer mug. I'll admit, I was concerned I was came in > 50th when I crossed the line and was relieved when I was handed a mug. Lee and I caught our breath and circled back to provide Bryan some "support" as he made the last turn to the finish then continued to jog (I pretty much limped) looking for anyone else we could spot from the team. In the end, our team's finish was good for 3rd in the Pub team category.

1 Lee Shaw 17:44
2 Adam Wheeler  18:36
3 James Senska  19:17
4 Bryan Deal 24:38
5 Scott Simpson 27:41
6 Cristine Simpson 27:45
7 Phil York 29:37

Team Race Results
Overall Race Results

Post race festivities were fun. It was great seeing friends from not on the team but, EMU after a long winter of hibernation.

Now for the negative. 18:36. Officially, the worst 5k of my life @ the Corktown 5k last weekend. No further proof required. I am in the worst shape of my life. It's no surprise. I haven't been doing much of anything since June of last year. I fool myself and string together three days on the trainer or a run or two on the weekend. Then follow it up with a 2-3week block of couch surfing. The scale doesn't lie either. I am above 180lbs at the moment. I have a laundry list of excuses. Some are better than others. At least I can do 50 push ups without stopping. I guess that's something.

So, if my worst 5k isn't some motivation, a look through the pictures from last weekend and the cast of characters that finished ahead of me may be. Damn. So, I am officially at my personal ground zero of personal fitness. It's going to take some dedication to even get to the 1st floor. May have to set a lot of "just finish and have fun" race goals this year.