Independence Day

A happy 4th of July to everyone. For the first time in years I didn't have to work on the holiday. So of course I made sure to rise at 6:15 a.m., which is much earlier than I normally get up. The reason for waking up at an ungodly hour: a 5K road race.

My dedication to running on a regular basis could be represented as a sine wave, but even during my lack of running enthusiasm, I've tried to participate in this 4th of July race each year. It's not always been the best idea. One year I had a sore foot but really wanted to run anyway. A mile or so in it hurt too much to run, meaning I walked the rest of it and finished dead last.

Although I have no chance of winning, I enjoy running in races a couple times a year. I find that race excitement provides a boost to my time, in part because you can try to keep up with or pass those in your part of the pack once it's shaken out. There may be a little bit of a competitive sense--c'mon, you ought to be able to beat this guy!--but for me it's more internal than external.

I've been running as part of my exercise routine, although I didn't do as much as I should have in preparation for the race. The most I had run continuously was a mile and a half--not quite half of the race's distance--but I thought I would be OK. Prior races have demonstrated that I'm pretty good at grinding out distance once I hit a groove.

My goal was to finish in less than thirty minutes. Usually I don't time myself when I run, but during a recent session around the track I found that I was averaging between nine and half and ten minutes a mile. If I could keep that pace, I'd be on the cusp of doing 5K in less than a half hour.

This year's race was on a new course and an hour earlier. The course's novelty probably helped me keep pushing because I wasn't sure how much I still had to go. The weather was perfect: light air, cloud cover, and just slightly cool. With part of the race on a bike path, there was less sucking of car exhaust.

The bunching up out of the starting gate kept me moving slower than I would have liked, but I found a good pace once we got onto a wider part of the road. The first mile went down easily. The stitch in my side abated, although my calves burned some. The clock at the second mile marker let me know that I was on pace, if a little behind. I try to sprint the last stretch, so I thought I was in the position I needed to be in.

Well, I didn't hit the wall, but the final mile-plus required finding extra mental and physical stamina. I was charging up the mild inclines, but I could tell my energy was starting to flag. The finish line seemed like it would never arrive.

I turned the last corner and saw the finish ahead of me. The clock informed me that I wouldn't meet my goal, but I summoned up one last surge to get the best time I could. (I got thirty seconds shaved off because the microchip in the wristband is activated when you go across the starting line instead of when the clock begins.)

Officially I finished in 30:35, for an average mile of 9:52. I would have liked to have squeaked under thirty minutes, but I'm very happy with the result. I did last year's race in 39:10, so that's a pretty steep improvement from then to now. (Last year my eat better and exercise regimen was about a month underway at race time.)

For one thing, I felt like I truly was running rather than moving at the pace of a fast walk. I had an actual stride. While I could feel my body starting to say, "OK, that's enough," I held up well. Legs and lungs were good.

That was plenty to do before 9 a.m., so I took advantage of not having to work and napped a couple times. I found black raspberries at Whole Foods yesterday--I haven't been able to find black raspberries in a long time--so I made a pie this afternoon.

I completed the arduous process of undoing stitches for my sock, and now here I am tapping out this blog entry. I can hear the fireworks exploding. They're a hair to far to the south for me to see them from my balcony, and I have to strain to glimpse them from my bedroom window. But no matter, it's been a good, restful holiday, and I can't say that for the last decade. Hopefully I'm not tempting fate by returning to the sock now.