Sandy Feet 5K

Report from the small 5K in downtown Matthews today...
Somehow my alarm was not set, or didn't go off rather, and I rolled out of bed @ 8am for the 9am start.. Still plenty of time as the race Start Line is a mere 3.5 miles from my front door. My intention going into this race was nothing less than a 1st place finish. Sounds a bit presumptuos presumptious prezumbchewus or overly confident? Well, this expectation wasn't all necessarily based on skill level you see.

It has been a sort of hidden agenda of mine to come in first place at a race.. sure this could be done by training harder and getting more fit than the competition or... simply by picking the right race. By the right race I mean "the one that nobody knows about, or the one that the fast guys aren't attending." It has been my experience that these races are found on some of the outskirts to the bussling metroplis of Charlotte and often are run on some of the very same days as the larger races that attract the so-called elites of our running community.

Today was one such day.. I counted about three separate 5K's within a 20 mile radius as well as Two separate Half-Ironman competitions in nearby locations that were for sure going to "thin-out" the competition and dilute the strength of the field. While I am no slow-poke, I am no Carl Lewis either and my running career has only recently taken flight as I have surrendered the bottle for the throttle, or let me try that again.. I have given up the 12 pack for a 6 pack... no, how about I stopped throwing up and started growing up. Well, you sort of get the idea anyways.

So when I heard that my little town of Matthews was to hold their Inaugural Sandy Feet 5K, I thought for sure this would be my day to slide on in there and grab me a Numero Uno. On that note, as I exited the Port-O-Let for a Numero Dos it was then that I noticed Aaron Linz, President of Charlotte Running Club. Great! I thought. What the heck is he doing here and shouldn't he be running the The Charlotte Run for Peace at Home up the road @ McAlpine Creek?? Oh well no bother, I settled into my warm-up routine and got to the start line. We chatted a bit and he asked me my Boston time and instead of telling him 2:14 like I wanted, I told him the truth.

9am and finally we are off... I assumed postion in second place and went out hard and fast. I wasn't sure what to expect from my legs after an ok week of recovery runs but I quickly felt myself red-line right about the one-mile mark.
I felt an annoying rub from my Brooks T-6 on my achilles and eventually this would chafe its way to a blistering friction annoyance. Excuse? No it wouldn't have altered my finishing position but it did account for a handful of seconds on the clock. First time and probably my last trying to run in a racing flat as no matter the distance I seem to be comfortable in my trainers.

Interesting that the thought to quit passed by me @ mile 2 and I had'nt felt like that during my entire marathon.. something about the speedwork of a 5K.. its a different kind of hurt that I had forgotten; plus my legs are coming off the quadtastic Boston experience.

I knew it wasn't a PR day for me and I wasn't catching Aaron out in first and there was no sight of anyone behind me so I settled into a groove and finished in 18:00 flat. The highlight of this one was the unexpected 20 dollar gift-card bonus to 2nd place.. sweet! Results Crazy point of irony to mention is that the other two 5K's in the area had winning times of 17:54 and 21:30! What? LOL.

Milo had a nice run after the 5K as he participated in the 1K Fun Run and he made a nice showing with a strong finish. He was able to pick off a couple kids late in the race that were nearly double his age. Way to go Milo!!