Carey's Playground

March 1, 2008:

The day started out misty when we walked out the door and we were wondering if we were going to be sprinkled on the for the entire run.  It was pretty overcast.  Luckily it didn't rain after we got there.

When we got there, it was not like we expected.  Usually fun runs have dozens of sponsors with tents full of free food and drinks, but this run didn't even have a table to put the water on.  They just stuck bottles on the floor.  Then, on top of that, they were out of T-shirts.

Regardless, I was excited we were going to get to run in downtown Austin.  I managed to bring my parents' small camera with me to take pictures.


Me acting like a doofus in front of our state's capitol

As you can or can't see, there is a nice little hill right off the bat.  Unfortunately, the photos taken while running didn't turn out very well.  Here's one that I took right after the start, after three tries:


The pack heading off towards the capitol building

Overall, I did very well.  I took what the 5k/10k training coaches told us, and that was to push yourself when you have energy, then take it back a bit when you feel like you're pushing too hard to recover, then push yourself again.  It worked for me and I was able to run the entire way.

As I stated in my last post, my two goals were to finish without any lingering injury in my knees, and to beat my old best time of 36 minutes.  After 5 minutes on these Austin hills, my knee was starting to hurt.  It was slight, so I kept going.  Much to my surprise, the pain went away!  When we got down to the Congress Street bridge, at the turnaround point and nearly halfway through, I looked down at my watch and saw that I had only been running just over 12 minutes.  I couldn't believe it!  I thought to myself that if I can just keep this pace up, I should easily beat my old time.

Unfortunately, the way back was uphill.  It took all my energy just to keep from stopping to walk.  I kept pace with a guy who ran the whole thing carrying a Ron Paul for president sign.  Near the top of the hill, I turned to him and said "we don't have hills like this in Houston!" and he laughed.

I went around the last bend and I was at 25 minutes, and felt like I had a tiny bit of energy left, so I gunned it as fast as I could for the last two blocks, passing about 10 people on the way.  When I crossed the finish line, I looked at my watch...


27 minutes and 41.46 seconds!

I was exhausted, but relieved.  I spent the next minute catching my breath, and saw Pam coming up the last bend at just under 29 minutes.  I yelled to her that she's doing great and she can make under 30 minutes if she just keeps going.  And she did!


Pam showing off a big smile as she crosses the finish line


Pam showing off her 29:36 minute time.

It feels so good to completely obliterate a goal you've set out for yourself.  Afterwards, my iced my knees and there was a little pain, but nothing near what I've felt in the past.  Overall, it was a great morning.

Unfortunately, after I went home and mapped the route, I found the route was a 10th of a mile short of a 5k.  I guess it's close enough! 

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