Sunday, March 18, 2007

Team Asha 5K/10K

Date : March 18, 2007
Location : Shoreline Park, Mountain View, CA
Race : Team Asha 5K/10K
Time : 22:33

My first 5K in almost 3 years. What a difference lack of speedwork makes!

I have enjoyed myself the past couple of years running ultramarathons without worrying about time. I substituted speedwork and training runs at a particular pace with long runs done purely for the distance.

I showed up at the inaugural Team Asha 5K/10K run to demonstrate my support for their cause.

My plan was to run/walk with Anu and Sam in the 5K but decided to run the distance as a race almost at the last moment.

I met a whole lot of folks from 2005 and 2004, people I had coached during my stint as a Team Asha coach (4 years, from 2002-2005). It was fun reconnecting with them.

The race started at about 9:20 a.m. The first mile felt a bit uncomfortable. I had not warmed up but had spent time chatting with friends. Mile marker 1 came and went by in 6 minutes 15 seconds. I was the first person to split from the 10K runners so I knew that I was in first place at that time.


(Anthony overtakes me)

Just before the 2 mile marker (it took a long time in coming; I believe the 2 mile point was actually more like 2.1 miles), Anthony Vendhan overtook me. He looked strong while I was fading. 2.1 miles went by in 15 minutes.


(Jose and I battle in the last few steps)

The final stretch, with the Finish line visible straight ahead, was about 0.3 miles long. I could see Anthony powering up ahead. I continued to lay it all out on the line and was 4-5 paces from the Finish when a runner named Jose zoomed past me into 2nd place. What a race he must have run!

I finished in 22:33, a minute and 27 seconds slower than my 2003 5K PR of 21:06.

I was happy as I always am. Running is a gift and I am always happy to start and finish a run without injuries.


(The 5K trio above)

The race was a lot of fun. I hung around for the award ceremony (I got a $20 gift certificate from Sports Basement for my 3rd place finish).

4 comments:

Tiny Seal said...

woohoo! 3rd place finish! Are you considering turning pro? :-)

Chihping Fu 傅治平 (超馬阿爸) said...

This is the race web site Team Asha 5K/10K.

Congrats to your third place finish. You looked strong as before - 6:15 for the first mile! WOW!

Chihping

Chihping Fu 傅治平 (超馬阿爸) said...

Scenic trails and nice pictures. You looks like the fittest in the 5K trio!

Chihping

Faithful Soles said...

Great post and not a bad time considering no speedwork. The pictures were also very good.

If you get a chance, please visit my running web site, Faithful Soles. I have a categorized and searchable Running Blog Database with bloggers from all over the world and would appreciate it if you would link your blog to it. Thanks and continued good luck in your training.