Back in the Swing

We've been back from a trip to Michigan for a few days, and I'm starting to get caught up and back into the swing of everyday life. Part of getting back into that swing will be getting back to making regular posts on this blog. I'll have more reason to post here on a regular basis as I kick off my fund raising and training for the Team In Training trip to the Walt Disney World Marathon in January. I've got my fund raising website set up and will start soliciting for donations about....now. Click on the new Team in Training banner there at the right to check out my site.

The trip to Michigan was made in part as a vacation and in part to help some family out. It also gave me an opportunity to make another step toward completing a goal of mine. I found a 5k race to participate in while we were there knocking off Michigan in my Cross Country Challenge. I'm not going to do a full blog entry report on the race, but here is a quick recap...

5th Annual Lakeshore Miles For Meals 5K Run & Walk

I didn't have any particular expectations going into the race. I'm still looking for that sub 20 minute 5k race, but I wasn't expecting this to be the one. I had two things working against me: lack of sleep, and stiffness from the previous day's long drive. With that in mind I decided to just give it my best and let everything else take care of itself. That was enough. I ran a very good, evenly paced race. I was averaging right around 6:30 minute/miles give or take 6 seconds. If I made any mistakes it was in the last mile. I thought I saw the finish line, so I kicked it hard. It turned out that I still had about a 1/4 of a mile. That made for a very hard, long kick to the finish.

I finished 16th overall with a finishing time of 20:20. The best part was that I finished 1st in my age group! I knew I had at least a top 3 finish wrapped up going into mile 3, but I had no idea that I running 1st. That was a great feeling. You've got to love the smaller races. There is no way I would have finished 1st in my age group in most of the larger races. That doesn't matter though. I will simply bask in the glow of the victory!

Hopefully I'll be back very soon with some Team In Training updates, Run Like Hell updates, and some race results as summer winds down and the fall race season heats up!