Saturday, December 27, 2014

Almost new years 5k

The weather report said the temperature would be in the eighties today, not bad for Florida this time of year and certainly a little hot for a race. Lucky for me my weather app told me it was about seventy three at 9:30 when i started the almost new years eve race.
I really was not up for this event for two reasons. First it's December  27th and second my gut was still full of christmas junk food and this body was not feeling very athletic that early in the morning. Now I know i shouldn't have done it but i had a lettuce,tomotoe and egg sandwhich on whole wheat toast for breakfast. I can't say why i craved it but i threw caution to the wind and downed that bad boy before the race.
By the time i made it to the course i was feeling better. I changed my shoes and hit the road. Right away an old couple caught up to me from nowhere and passed me. I know they we seniors because the wife wanted to take a day trip to the villages. For those that don't know thats one of the largest senior communities in the country. Then a friendly guy passed me and he was older than them. This man was moving and he soon faded from my sight. I continued to struggle along at snail pace despite the indignity.
Then i began thinking how my speed had gone down hill so fast. The injury to my knee years ago has left me unable to bend it fully. It's hard for me to run because i can't completely make a fill turning motion on the bad leg.  What I'm basically doing is a half bend with the bad knee which puts pressure on my entire frame.
Because of this handicap i wear out shoes like crazy. The bad knee grinds into the ground and wears out while the sometimes good knees shoe is hardly worn. It has added up to ten pairs of sneakers alone this year.
As i walked along checking my time i thought about the situation and one thing came to mind. Keep moving the weight will drop and the speed will come. I was already hitting eighteen minutes and wasn't close to mile. I was sadden but not ready to quit.I made the decision to hit the trail instead of the usaul loop i run. I was bored witg circling and the change was supposed to inspire me.
It worked i hit the dirt road and circled a nice trail carefully watching for snakes. I saw nothing just me and whatever was hiding in the scrubs.The change of worked unril mile two,after that i just wanted it over. Ir was a beautiful day for sure but i couldn't  shake the fact my foolish decision to eat the breakfast i did was coming back on me. Yep, i did the last mile in prayer mode. I need a potty break but refused to use those portable ones. When the pedometer  hit 3.1 i ran for the car and headed home to take care of business. Never again is all i can say, Ill be sticking to my prerace ritual of bananas and maybe a muffin. So Almost News years is in the book.

No comments:

Post a Comment