My last race

Last Saturday was AWE-some. I raced in a local "Ojai 5K."

I'll share what went really well, and then what I'd do different next time.

I rode my bike downtown. During the ride, I stretched my calves, breathed deeply, and practiced staying present. I arrived at the site, registered, and asked someone to explain the course to me. As soon as they did, I took off on my bike, and I rode the entire course. This put a real-life, and current, picture in my head.

It's important to note, here, that it was just under 45 degrees, there was snow on the mountains from the night before, and as I was riding it was "kinda" sprinkling!I tell ya, there were some thoughts going through my mind, "Should I do this? Can I pull out of the race? It sure is cold!"

(Maybe it was the $25 bucks I'd just paid for the shirt, maybe it was that I'd been ready for this race for a week...whatever it is, I lined up at the start.)

The countdown, the start, and the group moved forward. I looked around and there we were, 7 of us leading the pack. I held on with the fastest four runners for 2 of the 3.1 miles. In the last turnaround, Gary Tuttle passed by me ... we finished and congratulated each other.

So, one more race under my belt (I was 5th overall, 1st in my age group, with an unofficial time of 16:44); looks like my next triathlon is March 26th, here in Ventura.

Comments

[Jason Womack]

***UPDATE***

Well, I rode the 5K route that I ran last weekend. I looked over all the finish times, and noticed that they were F-A-S-T...

It turns out that the course as it was drawn was 2.85 miles. So, if I took the time I ran it in (16:44) and do the math, my actual time would have been right around 18:20...

Sorry 'bout that, I'm going to make sure to have the courses measured (by the officials...officially, or me...unofficially) from now on!

[Nik Chapapas]

Wow, that's a smokin'! 5k time.

[Rich]

Wow. That is a really great achievement!

[Matthew Cornell]

Congratulations! I admire your steady progress, and your successes.