A Mere 3 Seconds

"He Ain't Heavy" -- My Brother and I in Last Year's Race (2011)

I did a 5k race yesterday morning.  Not just any 5k race--it was my hometown race--the Encinitas 5k.  I did this race last year with my brother (see above) and set a PR in the race.  My time was 22:23 (a 7:13 pace per mile).

I was really happy with my time.  Going into the race, I had no idea what time I could expect.  I told my brother that I was hoping to do an 8 minute mile pace.  My brother had other ideas--he wanted to run faster.  When the race started last year, I dropped back and just tried to keep my brother in my sights.

I felt like I had a chance to keep up with him through the race and I came close.  I finished 33 seconds behind him (I ran a 22:23 (a PR for me) and he ran a 21:50) and I was really happy with that time.  It was funny though because after the race, my brother told me that he was ticked the whole race because he kept trying to run away from me (because he thought I was going to be running slow) and couldn't!

Faces in the Crowd -- Can You find Me?  -- Last Year's Race (2011) 

This year was different.  I kept trying to get my brother to run with me, but his knee has been bothering him and he didn't think he could do it.

I drove down to Encinitas yesterday morning by myself.  I hoped that my parents might come or that my brother might, but I wasn't sure if they would.  About 5 minutes before the race started, my brother showed up and I was excited to see him even though he had decided not to run.  Even though I had to race by myself, I was anxious to see how I would do.

The gun went off and I took about 10 seconds to work myself to the starting line amidst the throngs of other runners and get started.  I felt good starting, but quickly found myself dodging a pack of what seemed like 10 or 11 year old kids running chaotically in front of me.  I had no choice but to kick in the afterburners and get around them because I didn't want to risk tripping them or myself.

Once I got past them, I found a little bit of open road and realized that I was running fast (at least for me).  It was exhilarating.  For some reason, I found myself remembering the following quote from Eric Liddel in the movie "Chariots of Fire."

Hopefully I didn't look this funny while I was running....

"I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast.

And when I run I feel His pleasure."

I know that I'm not "fast" but I felt fast (at least at that point) and it felt really good to be able to be out there running.  It is really weird to explain, but I feel like I've had some spiritual experiences while running, in particular, and I felt like this was one of them.  I went on to clock the first mile in 6:28 which was a great time for me (last year my first mile in this race was 6:46).

I did make one mistake, however, in that I decided to run wearing a compression shirt under my running shirt.  I hadn't done this before and the nervousness and excitement of the start of the race coupled with my faster-than-normal pace and the compression fitting of the shirt had me feel like I was hyperventilating.  It was not a pleasant sensation.  I had to force myself to calm down and breathe.  I would feel like that dang shirt was constricting me for the rest of the race--making it harder to breathe.  I think that will be the last time that I ever wear a compression shirt in a race!

About half way through the race, I spotted my dad walking up and I was really excited to see him.  I tried hard to maintain a good pace through the race, but it was difficult to tell how well I was doing--especially because there were no mile markers for miles 2 and 3.  I knew approximately where they were supposed to have been because I had scoped out the course, but I wasn't sure.

Louie Zamperini - the hero of "Unbroken"

I passed my brother standing on the sidelines with about a half mile to go in the race.  He would later tell me that he thought that I looked "more substantial" than the rest of the runners with whom I was running at that point.  I know that the really fast runners tend to be very, very lean, but my brother might as well have been trying to compliment me by telling me that I was basically the "Fastest Fat Guy" in the race.  Gee, thx!

Somehow, I dug deep to find a finishing kick for the final stretch of the race.  I couldn't tell how far I had to go, but I thought it would be close if I wanted to beat my time from last year.  I crossed the finish line and I still didn't know for sure.  It wasn't until I checked the final results that I learned that my final time was 22:20, meaning that I beat last year's time by a mere 3 seconds!

Anyway, I'm glad that I did the race and I realized that I need to keep practicing if I want to get better.  I don't know exactly when my next race will be, but I'll be looking forward to it.  Dad and S., thanks so much for coming down to cheer me on!  I love you both!  (And Scott, if any of your pictures turned out, I'll be sure to update this post with them!)