SUNBURST, RACEDAY

(This post just got kind of long because I had a lot to say)

Surprisingly enough I was fairly awake at 6:00 a.m. but I think most of that was nerves for my first ever race of any type. Most of the nervous-ness that I was feeling was placed on by myself. I really wanted to do well and hit my goals because finishing the 5K was never going to be an issue but to do it with about 2500 other runners and with people watching is quite a different feeling than running by yourself during a weekday.

At the start line I placed myself with other runners looking to run an eight-minute mile pace. My stomach was treating me fairly well although there were some knots of nervous-ness interwoven in there. However, once the ran began at 7:15 those nerves were gone because I was "just running" (as Forest Gump would say).

Fortunately for me I was able to get a good path away from most of the runners about three blocks into the race and I felt like I was running at nice pace. I was told that the first mile I'll run faster than I probably wanted to. The fasted mile than I know that I've ever run was exactly seven minutes when I did it on a treadmill. At the first mile I was at 7:04! Yeah, I little too quick for my liking and I knew I couldn't keep that up for another 2.1 miles.

Considering I was shooting for an eight-minute mile pace I was trying to slow down my pace but it's really hard to do that once you've started. Somewhere around the second mile mark, I knew I was running fast but catching my breath was a bit difficult. I had no clue how fast I ran the first two miles because the clock at second mile was set for the marathon! The final turn toward ND stadium was a rough final mile but a nice "gut-check" as well.

My legs felt fine. Maybe a little ache in the knees but nothing bad. The hardest problem I had was breathing correctly. I just started making small goals (like one block at a time!) during the run up to the stadium. Seeing the stadium was great and the final run down the tunnel was very cool.

When I looked at the clock the first number I saw was 22. I couldn't believe that I was at 22 minutes and for a brief moment I thought I saw the clock wrong because of the sweat in my eyes. I crossed the finish line at 22:48.6 and I was freakin' thrilled beyond words. Once I caught my breath and dumped some water on my face and was able to fully "take-in" the moment it was one of the best feelings in the world. I knew that I had a shot to run the race in the less than 23 minutes but to actually do it was a great feeling.

I finished 19th (out of 96) in the 25-29 age bracket and finished 221st out of 1285 runners in the men's field. Among the 2482 total runners in the 5K, I was 247th. All my goals were met and, actually, were far surpassed. Results Page

The entire morning was great. I saw a whole lot of people that ran or walked a variety of the events that were offered during the event. It was borderline perfect. This running thing is a lot of fun and I'll probably run the 10K in 2008. For now, I am just enjoying my efforts in my first race ever.