Dancing In The Streets

...well, running in the streets.


7th Annual Shelter Island 5k

This event is one of those "must do" events. The race starts at the Shelter Island Holiday Inn and ends at Humphrey's By the Bay in the concert venue with a champagne brunch. It's very social and people are generally in a great mood. It's a flat route, mostly scenic, and can be competitive... or not -- Plenty of people opt to walk. It offers a champagne brunch alongside the bay, which is reason enough to get up very early on Sunday morning.

The thought of a champagne brunch was quite appealing to my friend Rich, who ran his first race with me, the Fire Run 4 Miler of August this year. He also talked his reluctant wife, Mayra, into joining us. This would be her first 5k. They also brought their very sleepy 2 year old daughter Alessandra.

Pre race photo op - Me, Rich, Mayra, and Ale in the stroller

Ale stretching with her mama

Me & the hubs

Ale and her daddy at brunch

It's amazing who you'll run into at some of these races! Blogger Glenn of Running Fat Guy drove down from Newport Beach for the event and, of course, any event with champagne, er, mimosas would not be complete with the day-glow green race shirts of Blogger AKA Alice of Heffer Blog and the Heffers. We also encountered several very happy* SDTC friends and members.

Glenn, Mik, AKA Alice, me & Michael

Here's the scoop:

I woke up at about 5:15 AM feeling tired. I slept, but it was anything but restful. My stomach also felt off and I was hopeful that I'd feel better after I had some coffee and a little something to eat.

Once we were at the event I felt just OK, but still not quite right. Even though I stretched and tried to warm up, my legs felt really heavy from the start. Yes, I was pushing harder than the day before, but I still felt like I my legs never warmed up for the entire race. I had no chutzpah to sprint in at the end. None. Nada. Zip. Regardless of the chutzpah-less finish, I still had a good, consistent pace and finished with a 27:59. I squeaked in under 28 minutes. One second under 28 minutes is peachy. Last year this 5k was my post-surgery comeback race, finishing at 33:30. What a difference a year makes!

The ironic thing is that the final race results match up to my GPS results, which never happens in a non-chipped race.

What my BiM GPS application recorded:
Activity: Run
Date: 11/08/09 07:58 AM
Distance: 3.15 miles
Time: 0:27:59
Speed: 6.8 mph
Pace: 8' 53 min/mile
Calories: 304

Actual race results:
403 IRENE M 208 50 6/53 F San Diego 27:59 9:01

After (sort of) a nap, I am feeling better. I think the lack of sleep really messed with me today. Next race - Silver Strand Half Marathon, November 15, 2009... next Sunday.

Yesterday's song:
Your Long Journey - Allison Krauss

PEACE

*Perhaps it was the champagne?