2005 Run Shadyside 5K - My First Race :) @ Ales Rarus

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A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominant power in the government, whether this be a monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy, or the majority of the existing generation, in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a despotism over the mind, leading by natural tendency to one over the body. — John Stuart Mill, On Liberty [1859]

2005 Run Shadyside 5K - My First Race :)

September 17th, 2005 by Funky Dung

Thisentryis part 1 of 5 in the series 2005 Running

2005 Run Shadyside 5K - My First Race :)
2005 Great Race - My First 10K! :)
2005 Chamber Classic 5K
2005 Pittsylvania XC Challenge 6K
2005 Harry C. Holland Gutbuster 4mi

[runshadyside05.jpg] Today I ran my first race. It was the Run Shadyside 5K. I finished in 28:32, so my mile pace was 9:12. It could have been better, but I wasn't disappointed. I learned a few lessons from today. 1) While it was a good idea for me to avoid coffee this morning, and hot chocolate isn't a known diuretic, I ought to limit my fluid intake prior to a race. Running with an uncomfortable bladder is suboptimal, to say the least. 2) I need to pace myself better. My first mile pace was about 30 seconds faster than it should have been. For the Great Race 10K, I'll be keeping pace with Rob of UnSpace. Hopefully, he'll keep me from going faster than 9 minutes/mile for the first half. 3) Though running with the vestiges of a head cold is doable, it's certainly not preferable.

The image shown is a graph of my mile pace times since I started timing my runs (Open in a separate page to see at full size). I started running to shed some pounds and some fat, but now I'm enjoying the sport itself. It's a great way to push myself. Running faster than other people would be cool, but right now I'm focusing on beating myself. If I only worried about losing weight, I think I'd get discouraged because progress is slow. By setting time and distance goals for myself, I have something with more immediate results to strive for. I'm running the Great Race 10K next weekend and I might run the Pace Race 5K on October 8. If any Pittsburghers know of any races I might be interested in, please let me know.

For some good running advice, check out these UnSpace articles:

5K Race Strategy: A Must-Read
5K & 10K Race Strategy: Preparation
5K & 10K Race Strategy: The Race Course

Series Navigation2005 Great Race - My First 10K! :)»

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Comments 6

Adam Graham wrote:

Congratulations. More running that I've ever done. I have an excuse though. Satchel Paige, the great pitcher who lasted until he was 59 in baseball listed not running as one of his secrets to longevity.
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Posted 17 Sep 2005 at 7:21 pm ¶
Steve Nicoloso wrote:

More congratulations, Funky. Tho' I'd totally disagree with you about coffee before the race… I usually seek a double dose, even more so for a race as short as 5k. Caffeine is a safe and cheap performance enhancing drug!!

You're absolutely right not to worry about weight, per se'. Work on getting faster… the weight will come off automatically. Tho' I have found that there seems to be a limit after about a year or two. If you're training really hard, you'll end up losing less weight… or none… 'cause you gotta eat a LOT to keep up a hard training regimen. Of course, licit overeating is life's other best pleasure!

I'll be running the Virginia Ten Miler next Sat…

Cheers!
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Posted 18 Sep 2005 at 1:43 am ¶
Funky Dung wrote:

Tell that to the septuagenarians who did almost as well as me and the sexagenarians who beat me!
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Posted 18 Sep 2005 at 3:03 am ¶
Funky Dung wrote:

That was in response to Adam, BTW.
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Posted 18 Sep 2005 at 3:03 am ¶
Tom Folsom wrote:

Congrats - I'm jealous. I can't seem to get myself running ever.
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Posted 21 Sep 2005 at 9:51 pm ¶
Rob wrote:

I'm fighting a knee injury. The question is whether I'll even be able to cover the race on Sunday, not just whether I'll be able to keep up with you.
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Posted 22 Sep 2005 at 2:35 pm ¶

Trackbacks & Pingbacks 2

From Ales Rarus - A Rare Bird, A Strange Duck, One Funky Blog » Run With HAART on 09 Apr 2006 at 4:02 pm ¶ [...] Like I said, it was freakin' cold, but not unbearable. The pre-race registration seemed well organized and the race started on time. I finished in 29:15, which gave me a mile pace of 9:26. That's in between my results for the Run Shadyside and Chamber Classic last year, and I'm pretty happy with it. It's early in the season and I have plenty of time to improve before the Great Race. I finished 44rd out of 60 males in my age group and 110 out of 208 total participants (though some of them were walkers and skew the results a little). [...]
From UnSpace - Writing and Photography » Cirrus Comments on N’kisi the Parrot on 21 Aug 2007 at 1:23 am ¶ [...] One Response to "Cirrus Comments on N'kisi the Parrot" 1 2005 Run Shadyside 5K - My First Race | Pennsylvania @ Ales Rarus says: September 22nd, 2006 at 5:02 pm […] 5K Race Strategy: A Must-Read 5K [...]

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