Number 6 – Just Two Days Away

The Jingle Jog 5K in McDonough, GA is tomorrow. I need to develop my race strategy, and I’m confused. I have no idea what pace to set to get a personal best time.

The first couple 5Ks I did, I went out slow and left too much in the tank at the end. I was OK with that because I was just getting my feet wet. The next couple races, I went out faster. I showed improvement in each race, but still felt I could do better. The last race, I thought I went out way too fast, about killed myself on the hilly second mile, all but gave up on getting a personal best until I got the race time, and left it all on the course the last mile to get my personal best.

I guess the obvious answer is to go out fast again and hang on at the finish, but it just seems wrong. I guess I better figure it out. I hear the course is relatively flat. So, I guess setting the same pace as last race might work since the steep hills won’t be there to kick my butt during the second mile. We’ll see, I guess.

Another One in the Books

Hmmm. Maybe there is something to doing 5Ks without much rest between them. The Aubrae Gunderson Memorial 5K in Conyers, GA was easily the toughest race I’ve done yet, but somehow I actually managed a personal best. Not that my personal best is impressive, but I’m excited about the improvement.

I owe a big thank you to the guy in front of me at the 2-mile mark. I had just finished coming up the third big hill and decided to coast to the finish instead of pushing myself. I really figured I was spent and there was no way I was going to improve upon my best time. That’s when I overheard him give the race time to his wife and I realized I still had a chance to take it home with a good time. So, I kicked it up a gear and did my fastest of the three miles at the end. I’m not sure I could have ran another five steps at the end of the race.

I’m already looking forward to doing this race again next year.

5K Number 5 Already?

I’m not sure how smart this is, but I’m going to do another 5K just two days after the Turkey Run 5K I did yesterday. At least I’ll have company, again. I guess I’m on a mission to collect racing numbers and t-shirts.

That’s kind of the fun of doing these races – collecting the prizes that say, “Hey, I accomplished something”. I like to write my times and other pertinent details on the back of the race numbers and use them as a kind of filing system and history. (I know, I’ve only done four races so far, but that’s the plan.)

The t-shirts are another story. I don’t know what to do with them. Right now, I just hang them in my closet. They are too big to hang on the wall. I’d like to figure something out so that I can display them or use them for a specific purpose.

5K Number 4

Why on Earth did I think getting up at 6:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning to do the Turkey Run 5K Race in McDonough, GA was a good idea? At least I wasn’t the only one. Over 1,500 other people thought it was a good idea, too, including my wife, son, and many of my friends. In total, there were 11 of us morons who met at the race to sweat, get sore, and whine. (O.K., I was the one doing all the whining.)

Seriously, it was a pretty good way to start the holiday. I got up, accomplished something, had breakfast, and even managed to buy three Christmas trees – all before noon. Now, it’s off to see my fellow racers and our fans for football and a Thanksgiving feast.

Diet Pepsi

I love Diet Pepsi. I remember hating diet drinks in my younger days, but I discovered that if you force yourself to drink it for 40 days, you’ll never go back to regular Coke or Pepsi. It’s too sweet.

I guess giving up something for Lent paid off. Think of all the calories I saved by giving up regular Pepsi!

Movie Theatre Trailers

I have a little tradition with my wife. It sometimes irritates her, but she puts up with me. When we go to the theatre to see a movie, I count the movie trailers before a movie. I don’t just count them, though. I have to count off the trailers to her by sticking fingers up in front of her face. It all stems from a theory I used to have.

Before the days of big-budget films and advertising mega-budgets that get people to see movies no matter how good or bad they really are, you could tell how good a movie was going to be by the number of movie trailers they stuck in front of it. The more trailers, the better the movie. I think the movie-makers figured they could throw more advertisement in front of you and you’d forgive them because the movie was good.

Nowadays, this theory doesn’t hold true. They just throw advertisement after advertisement at you and don’t care if you forgive them or not. Don’t get me wrong, I like the movie trailers a lot, but a little consideration would be nice. How else are we supposed to tell what they think of their product?